Venturi Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,393 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.48.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.8%

YUM opened at $141.53 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $147.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.88. The company has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. This trade 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 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Company 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.