Cypress Capital Group Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Cypress Capital Group acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,448 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,015 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,766,000 after acquiring an additional 6,461 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $372,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 151.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,657,000 after acquiring an additional 94,355 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 target price (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $267,795.45. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,078 shares of company stock worth $4,304,785 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $140.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $38.97 billion, a PE ratio of 27.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued 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 analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

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.