J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 43.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,148 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 961 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.25.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $132.35 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $37.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $133.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.68.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 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 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% 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.