Verus Financial Partners Inc. Makes New $288,000 Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Verus Financial Partners Inc. has made a new investment of $288,000 in Yum! Brands, acquiring 1,907 shares during the second quarter.
• Yum! Brands reported quarterly earnings of $1.44 per share, missing estimates, while revenue increased by 9.6% year-over-year to $1.93 billion.
• The company declared a $0.71 quarterly dividend, with an annualized yield of 1.9% and a payout ratio of 56.02%.

Verus Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,907 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first 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. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.3%

YUM stock opened at $151.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.32. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced 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 report on Wednesday, August 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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