J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,772 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 624 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,022,648,000 after buying an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after buying an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $200,668,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after buying an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $301,498,000 after buying an additional 582,267 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.44.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,918,095 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $133.52 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $134.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.98. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.42 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $37.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.08.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 49.08%.

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.