Level Four Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 68.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,421 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,921 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 22,079 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,828,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 16,710 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,207,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 10,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.46, for a total value of $179,100.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165,789.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,332 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.46, for a total transaction of $179,100.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $165,789.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,877 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.92, for a total transaction of $526,961.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,791,614. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,067 shares of company stock valued at $1,912,510 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. StockNews.com started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $179.00 to $173.00 in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.11.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $127.99 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.96 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $132.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.26. The company has a market cap of $35.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.01.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.17. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 16.16% and a net margin of 20.31%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 29th were given a $0.605 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 28th. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.99%.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through four segments: the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division. It 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.