Advisors Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,275 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.84, for a total transaction of $1,043,445.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,108,808.12. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $149.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $146.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.96. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $41.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.