Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,326.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,326.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.25.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $137.21 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $134.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.41. The stock has a market cap of $38.64 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.52%.

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.