United Bank Buys Shares of 9,885 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

United Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 9,885 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,580,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Yum! Brands by 124.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after purchasing an additional 83,916 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Yum! Brands by 10.0% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,447,000 after purchasing an additional 10,755 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.1% in the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.9%

YUM opened at $146.15 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $153.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.02. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14. The firm has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,521.26. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 7,961 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $1,219,227.15. Following the sale, the vice president owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,831,674. This trade represents a 39.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,549 shares of company stock valued at $2,890,168. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Profile

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.