Corient Private Wealth LLC Purchases 9,323 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 218,794 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,323 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Yum! Brands worth $28,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,590 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,555 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,442 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Syon Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $406,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.05 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback 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 a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,521 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,263 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.53.

About Yum! Brands

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.