Vident Advisory LLC Raises Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 182.9%, owning a total of 17,574 shares valued at approximately $2.77 million.
• Analysts have mixed reviews with ten rating the stock as a Buy and thirteen as a Hold, with a consensus target price of $161.23.
• Yum! Brands recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, translating to an annual yield of 1.9%.

Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 182.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,574 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 11,362 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 66,562 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 39,762 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,334,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 65,474 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,784,000 after purchasing an additional 29,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,228 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten research 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, Yum! Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7%

YUM stock traded down $0.94 during trading on Thursday, reaching $143.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,484,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,125,688. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $39.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.73. The company's fifty day moving average is $146.92 and its 200-day moving average is $148.13.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.02%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $4,271,543. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.