Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,623 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 19,934 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $18,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,557,612 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,120,747,000 after buying an additional 448,393 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,945,791,000 after acquiring an additional 297,641 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,217,826,000 after acquiring an additional 218,046 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,723,000 after purchasing an additional 40,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,559.68. This trade represents a 95.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,695 shares of company stock worth $4,582,843. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, November 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $154.41 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $151.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.47. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.58 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $42.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

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.