Occidental Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Occidental Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 4,305 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $688,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Steph & Co. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $145.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $39.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.71 and a 200-day moving average of $156.15. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $39,972.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 63,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. This trade represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,549 shares of company stock worth $2,890,168. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Company 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.