Chancellor Financial Group WB LP Invests $627,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $627,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Steph & Co. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their position. 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 sold 18,549 shares of company stock valued at $2,890,168 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $144.89 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.09. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $170.14. The company has a market capitalization of $39.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.