Burney Co. Buys 72,932 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Burney Co. raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 943.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 80,662 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 72,932 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the 1st 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 period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $138.01 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $38.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.13.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,795.45. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.82.

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.