Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 129 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,161 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 17.3% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 13,030 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,726,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 38,585 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,111,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 9.9% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 94.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,020 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 5,344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $129.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.53.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at $20,955,351.69. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443 in the last 90 days. 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.