Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Axxcess Wealth Management LLC

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 82.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,064 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,107 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.6% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,708 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,901,000 after acquiring an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth approximately $1,244,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 29.2% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.4% in the first quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 8,681 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth approximately $169,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.7 %

YUM traded up $0.92 on Friday, hitting $128.05. 1,874,400 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,996,463. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $36.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $133.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.85.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,398 shares of company stock worth $4,552,727. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Company 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.