Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,303 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $3,415,000. American National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 23,168 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,027,000 after buying an additional 7,934 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $268,000. Syon Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,887 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,030,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Thursday, reaching $135.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 604,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,962,101. The company has a market capitalization of $38.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $132.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,900.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,900.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock worth $13,910,094 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by 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.