6,621 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Acquired by Meridian Wealth Management LLC

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 6,621 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $925,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $7,645,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.1% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,763,000 after buying an additional 73,844 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,730,000 after buying an additional 7,814 shares during the period. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $984,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $135.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $37.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.70 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.49.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.