Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Has $6.23 Million Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 83.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,182 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,756 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 2,890 shares of company stock worth $451,123 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.22.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.6%

YUM stock opened at $155.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.46.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands 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.