Morse Asset Management Inc Takes $42,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 3,088.9% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizons Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $38,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $138.16 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.70 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.49. The company has a market cap of $38.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on YUM. Bank of America reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.94.

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.