Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by Venturi Wealth Management LLC

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,393 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2,288.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 502,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $74,426,000 after purchasing an additional 481,235 shares during the period. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $64,352,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $141.53 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.48.

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.