Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 10,299 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,178% compared to the typical daily volume of 806 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $267,795.45. This trade represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 28,815 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,986. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.6% in the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the third quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $486,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 7.5%

NYSE YUM opened at $149.84 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.16. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.71 dividend. 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 currently 56.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.82.

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.