Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Buys 98 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Choreo LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,089 shares of company stock worth $3,693,505. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $135.18. The company had a trading volume of 2,301,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,977,370. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $38.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.95.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands 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.