Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its position in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $168.01 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $157.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $151.02. The company has a market cap of $46.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $47,149.68. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 14,414 shares of company stock worth $2,332,265 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Profile

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.