Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Raises Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,513 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $372,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.48.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $143.98 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.60. The company has a market cap of $39.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.02%.

About Yum! Brands

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.