Simmons Bank Decreases Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Simmons Bank decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,451 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 685 shares during the period. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $3,415,000. American National Bank boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 23,168 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,027,000 after purchasing an additional 7,934 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $268,000. Syon Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,887 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Evercore ISI downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $135.65. 2,176,119 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,970,253. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $132.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.82. The company has a market capitalization of $38.14 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. 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 earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,685 shares of company stock worth $13,910,094 over the last three months. Corporate 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.