SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 23.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 791 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,058,156,000 after purchasing an additional 373,232 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,914,257,000 after purchasing an additional 678,659 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $331,831,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $208,045,000 after acquiring an additional 570,263 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,555,012 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $203,178,000 after acquiring an additional 33,501 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total value of $859,222.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total transaction of $859,222.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $129.52 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $137.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.10. The stock has a market cap of $36.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

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.