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

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 144.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 5,264 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $146.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,152,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,674,857. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company's 50-day moving average is $145.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.70.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $159.86.

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.