First Horizon Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 449 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 79.8% in the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total transaction of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,376 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,237. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.9 %

YUM stock traded up $1.26 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $137.95. 221,486 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,968,288. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

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

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Company 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.