Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 103,358 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $13,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. MGO One Seven LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,590 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,555 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,313,000 after acquiring an additional 2,934 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $163,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 5,970 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.0 %

YUM traded up $1.30 on Friday, reaching $137.65. The company had a trading volume of 1,453,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,133,299. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $138.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.31.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total transaction of $859,222.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,521 shares of company stock worth $4,620,263 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.53.

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.