J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 43.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,148 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 961 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $132.35 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,326.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.