Wedbush Securities Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 86.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,072 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,201 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.2% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,435,000 after buying an additional 3,172 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,524,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 109,030 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,157,000 after buying an additional 5,499 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,349 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 2,251 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,112 shares of company stock valued at $4,760,814. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $148.84 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $146.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.25. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $41.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on YUM. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.29.

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.