Midwest Trust Co Acquires Shares of 4,701 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Midwest Trust Co bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,701 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Private Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 219.4% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.6%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $150.60 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.70, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.28.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total transaction of $261,161.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, 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 is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,112 shares of company stock valued at $4,760,814. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.