Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Has $4.17 Million Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,459 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 87 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 11,541.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 141,678 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,512,000 after acquiring an additional 140,461 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Choreo LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 96,436 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,600,000 after purchasing an additional 44,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,866 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,681,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock worth $13,910,094. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $135.25 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $132.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.85. The firm has a market cap of $38.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.