Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Buys 14,077 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 29.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 62,335 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,077 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on YUM. Citigroup upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $143.82 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $147.66 and its 200 day moving average is $142.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.