Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 45.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,959 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,105 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 79.8% in the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,955,351.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $131.03 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $36.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.62.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands 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.