Townsquare Capital LLC Raises Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,779 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,568 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $138.94 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.53. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.70 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.77 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

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.