United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $1.99 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,461 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,992,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the second quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the first quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Argus reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.65.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $39,972.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 63,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. This trade represents a 0.41% 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. Insiders have sold 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $154.08 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $170.14. The company has a market capitalization of $42.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $153.48 and a 200 day moving average of $155.81.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.