Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by NewEdge Wealth LLC

NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 92.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,164 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 3,450 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.22.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $47,149.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $40,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,552 shares in the company, valued at $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 1,053 shares of company stock worth $171,899 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $150.73 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $169.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $157.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.03. The company has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.