Raymond James & Associates Raises Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 356,909 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,496 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $49,485,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 103,701 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,956,000 after acquiring an additional 4,497 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.2% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 31,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,990,000 after buying an additional 1,864 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 96.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 11,432 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,428,000 after purchasing an additional 5,621 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 8,649 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

YUM traded down $0.73 on Friday, hitting $134.34. 2,452,523 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,162,501. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $138.17 and a 200-day moving average of $131.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.82 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.31.

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.