Spirepoint Private Client LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Spirepoint Private Client LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,470 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Leo Wealth LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 2,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 334,984 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $46,446,000 after purchasing an additional 57,423 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the first quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 23,758 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,294,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 333,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,137 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 36.6% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $301,498,000 after buying an additional 582,267 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.31.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.1 %

YUM traded down $1.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $126.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,045,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,144,245. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $134.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.94.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.06 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,398 shares of company stock worth $4,552,727 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands 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.