Ieq Capital LLC Grows Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 17.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,030 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,920 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.7% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 38,585 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,111,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 9.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 29,948 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 94.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,020 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,460,000 after buying an additional 5,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 38,365 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,082,000 after buying an additional 1,269 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at $4,017,818.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,017,818.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, 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 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $129.71 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $36.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.50.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.