37,689 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Purchased by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 37,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $6,025,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $28,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $157.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $153.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.97. The stock has a market cap of $42.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $170.14.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares in the company, valued at $474. This trade represents a 99.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $41,044.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,971.45. This trade represents a 35.69% 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 have sold 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Company 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.