Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Stock Holdings Cut by WBH Advisory Inc.

WBH Advisory Inc. reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,970 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 493 shares during the quarter. WBH Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,930 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $61,613,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,363 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 153,513 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $22,748,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $145.25 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $40.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.20. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius began coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.48.

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.