Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC Invests $1.28 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,008 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,280,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Steph & Co. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Argus lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares in the company, valued at $474. This trade represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 19,043 shares of company stock valued at $2,978,180 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $157.42 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $153.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.97. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $170.14. The company has a market cap of $42.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc NYSE: YUM is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company's principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company's operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.

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