Willner & Heller LLC Boosts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Willner & Heller LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,744 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Willner & Heller LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,415,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $268,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $7,645,000. Finally, Syon Capital LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,326.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.25.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $0.75 on Friday, hitting $134.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,334,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,021,993. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.08%.

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.