Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by First Foundation Advisors

First Foundation Advisors cut its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 204 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of YUM opened at $133.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $37.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $132.71 and a 200-day moving average of $135.87.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its 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 net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094. 0.31% of the stock is currently 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.