Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 6,080 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,080 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $972,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $27,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a 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, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $41,044.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,971.45. The trade was a 35.69% 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 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.9%

NYSE:YUM opened at $157.42 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.97.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.