Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Newly Purchased by Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC

Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 7,421 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Russell sold 7,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $1,219,227.15. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,831,674. This trade represents a 39.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474. This trade represents a 99.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 12,778 shares of company stock worth $1,966,393 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $180.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $184.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.65.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.9%

YUM opened at $154.57 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $146.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.49. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $134.26 and a 1-year high of $170.14. The company has a market cap of $42.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.44, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that operates, franchises and licenses quick-service and fast-casual restaurants. Its principal brands are KFC, which specializes in fried and other chicken products; Taco Bell, which offers Mexican-inspired food; Pizza Hut, which sells pizzas and related menu items; and The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual burger restaurant chain.

The company’s business is primarily franchise-based, with restaurants operated by independent franchisees and licensees alongside company-operated locations.