Larson Financial Group LLC Raises Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 43.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,782 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,458 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $137.05 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.46. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $38.25 billion, a PE ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. The trade was a 4.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.