Capital Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 247 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 106,800.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.0% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 12,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $206,000. Finally, Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the first quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,614 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $569,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $267,795.45. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of YUM opened at $153.09 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $42.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $146.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.36.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly 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). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. 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. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.