ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 9,873 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,873 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $24,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 106,800.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 13.0% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 12,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $2,039,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 36.2% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 19,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $150.61 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $41.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.28.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors 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 yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This trade represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.