Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. Has $479,000 Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,617 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 43,899 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,736,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 268.8% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,914 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 68.1% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,957 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 2,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $352,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $134.63. 448,526 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,957,863. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $132.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.91. The company has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $169,414.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,414.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

About Yum! Brands

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.