Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,226 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2,288.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 502,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $74,426,000 after purchasing an additional 481,235 shares during the last quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $64,352,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,795.45. This trade represents a 13.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 29,078 shares of company stock worth $4,304,785 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $139.77 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.82.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.