Wedmont Private Capital Has $490,000 Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,576 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 49,442 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,855,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 3,216 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 67.3% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 455 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Emprise Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $439,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,515 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,080 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $134.29 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.76. The company has a market cap of $37.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

About Yum! Brands

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.