ProShare Advisors LLC Increases Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,475 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,225 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, PGIM Custom Harvest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.3% in the first quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total transaction of $261,161.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total transaction of $419,839.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,010,292. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,864 shares of company stock valued at $4,884,532. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $149.41 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.29.

About Yum! Brands

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.