Cullinan Associates Inc. Purchases 507 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Cullinan Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,811 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGIM Custom Harvest LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $150.61 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $147.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.13. The stock has a market cap of $41.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 56.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.32.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $267,795.45. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.