Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by IFP Advisors Inc

IFP Advisors Inc decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 33.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,128 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,570 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of YUM opened at $155.24 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $157.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.46. The stock has a market cap of $42.79 billion, a PE ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 48.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,544. The trade was a 34.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,511.84. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 2,890 shares of company stock valued at $451,123 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.22.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.