Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 159.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 88,877 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,616 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $13,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 8,573 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,497 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 175.9% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 12,485 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,973,000 after purchasing an additional 7,959 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 144.7% during the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 8,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 5,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 21,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,391,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total transaction of $261,161.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,870 shares of company stock valued at $5,657,495. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5%

YUM opened at $148.84 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The business’s 50 day moving average is $146.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.29. The firm has a market cap of $41.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands 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.