Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 387 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 7.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $145.25 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $147.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.39. The company has a market cap of $40.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,795.45. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.48.

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.