Brookstone Capital Management Trims Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Brookstone Capital Management decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,898 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 243 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $136.95 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.60. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at $4,017,818.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.