Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,524 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of YUM opened at $143.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $145.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.26. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $39.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.54, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.24.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,763 shares of company stock worth $2,637,564 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.