Arista Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Arista Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, purchasing 4,110 shares valued at approximately $609,000 during the second quarter.
• In recent analyst ratings, Yum! Brands received a number of "buy" recommendations, with an average target price of $161.48, but also saw price target reductions from firms like Morgan Stanley.
• Yum! Brands reported earnings per share of $1.44 for the last quarter, missing estimates and reflecting a *9.6% increase* in revenue compared to the previous year.

Arista Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,110 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $267,795.45. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This trade represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,078 shares of company stock worth $4,304,785 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $143.30 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $147.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.49. The company has a market cap of $39.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.02%.

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.

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