HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 5,384 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 62,439 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,384 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the second quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Econ Financial Services Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the first quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. 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. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Yum! Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $145.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.20. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Russell sold 7,961 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $1,219,227.15. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,831,674. This represents a 39.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $39,972.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. This represents a 0.41% 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 18,780 shares of company stock valued at $2,940,693 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises quick-service restaurants. Its portfolio includes KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill, which offer products such as fried and grilled chicken, tacos and other Mexican-inspired foods, pizza, burgers and related menu items.

The company’s restaurants serve customers through a combination of company-operated locations and franchised and licensed outlets. Yum! Brands supports its restaurant concepts with brand management, franchise services, technology and digital ordering capabilities, while franchisees generally manage day-to-day restaurant operations.

Yum! Brands serves customers in numerous markets worldwide, with a significant presence in the United States and international markets across regions including Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.