Jacobs & Co. CA Sells 4,142 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Jacobs & Co. CA cut its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 51,501 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,142 shares during the quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $39,972.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. The trade was a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 20,386 shares of company stock valued at $3,169,392 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $150.60 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $170.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.43. The firm has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.5 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 37.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.31.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.