Everett Harris & Co. CA Takes $3.18 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Everett Harris & Co. CA acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 19,914 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $3,183,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $41,044.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,971.45. The trade was a 35.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,549 shares of company stock worth $2,890,168. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.31.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $148.21 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.19. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $170.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.