Synergy Asset Management LLC Invests $207,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 106,800.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 1,068 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 12,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,889,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares during the period. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $2,039,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 36.2% in the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 19,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,242 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Melius began coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $150.61 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $147.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.