ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Invests $226,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,436 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,021,194,000 after buying an additional 163,462 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $338,296,000 after buying an additional 24,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $144.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $146.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.09.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,763 shares of company stock valued at $2,637,564 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.30.

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.