Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,758 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.24.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $124.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.61 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.79.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

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.