Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Stock: Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Cuts Holdings

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,758 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,803 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.9% during the third quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,160 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,771,000 after acquiring an additional 4,033 shares during the period. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 43,060.0% in the third quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 2,207 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $12,844,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $162.00 price target on the stock. Gordon Haskett cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $182.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $167.00 target price (down from $174.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Christopher Turner sold 285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.11, for a total value of $39,931.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 63,225 shares in the company, valued at $8,858,454.75. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474. This trade represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 4,288 shares of company stock valued at $666,149 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock traded down $4.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $161.35. The stock had a trading volume of 2,373,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,408,670. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.26 and a twelve month high of $170.14. The firm has a market cap of $44.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.58.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.05. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were 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 was Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 24.08%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that operates and franchises quick-service restaurants under the KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill brands. Its restaurants serve customers through dine-in, takeout, delivery and digital ordering channels.

The company’s brands offer a range of products, including KFC’s chicken meals, Taco Bell’s Mexican-inspired food, Pizza Hut’s pizzas and related items, and Habit Burger & Grill’s chargrilled burgers and sandwiches.