U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $1.86 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,531 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,857,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $149.50 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.46. The stock has a market cap of $41.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 56.02%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,192 shares of company stock valued at $5,346,507. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Melius began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.23.

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.