Portside Wealth Group LLC Grows Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 18.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,842 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $447,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the first quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,614 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 12,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 106,800.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.7% in the first quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,445 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,763 shares of company stock worth $2,637,564 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.0%

YUM stock opened at $144.04 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $146.88 and a 200-day moving average of $142.87. The company has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.30.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.