Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 2,141 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,141 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.6% in the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGIM Custom Harvest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.3% in the first quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,559.68. This trade represents a 95.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total transaction of $3,627,901.20. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,870 shares of company stock valued at $5,657,495. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.4%

YUM opened at $153.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $147.70 and a 200 day moving average of $146.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $42.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.38.

Yum! Brands 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.