3,466 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Purchased by Paragon Financial Partners Inc.

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,466 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steph & Co. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price 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. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.65.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,482.86. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,549 shares of company stock worth $2,890,168. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $145.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.15. The company has a market capitalization of $39.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

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

About Yum! Brands

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.