IMS Capital Management Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• IMS Capital Management has acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, purchasing 2,993 shares valued at approximately $444,000 during the second quarter.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Yum! Brands, with upgrades from several brokerages raising target prices, while others have lowered their price objectives.
• Yum! Brands recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annual yield of 1.9% and a payout ratio of 56.02%.

IMS Capital Management bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,993 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 151.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $24,657,000 after purchasing an additional 94,355 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $270,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $939,000. First National Bank Sioux Falls purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $283,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $55,564,000 after acquiring an additional 6,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 target price (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $149.50 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $146.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.46. The company has a market capitalization of $41.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 263 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.92, for a total transaction of $36,798.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $245,559.60. This represents a 13.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,192 shares of company stock worth $5,346,507 over the last ninety days. Company 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.

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