Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Acquires 1,269 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,365 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 9,998 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $916,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $241,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in Yum! Brands by 38.9% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 3,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $129.71 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.53. The stock has a market cap of $36.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.25.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 155,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,955,351.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443 in the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.