Ballew Advisors Inc Makes New $317,000 Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Ballew Advisors Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,185 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,076 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $815,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $143.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,180,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,014,299. The stock has a market cap of $39.99 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $145.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.32. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $158.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $256,177.35. This trade represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,763 shares of company stock worth $2,637,564. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.