Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 23.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 791 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,058,156,000 after purchasing an additional 373,232 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,914,257,000 after acquiring an additional 678,659 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $331,831,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $208,045,000 after acquiring an additional 570,263 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,555,012 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $203,178,000 after acquiring an additional 33,501 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.33.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total transaction of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,515 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,080 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $129.52 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $137.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.10. The company has a market cap of $36.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.06 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.