Searle & CO. Trims Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Searle & CO. decreased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM – Free Report) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 340 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands makes up approximately 1.2% of Searle & CO.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 12.3% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 4,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 13,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,993 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,961,000 after purchasing an additional 7,686 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5 %

Yum! Brands stock traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $134.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 420,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,939,203. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.28 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $134.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.44.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Yum! Brands

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,326.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,326.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,673 shares of company stock worth $13,918,095. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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