CreativeOne Wealth LLC Makes New $1.24 Million Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,974 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,244,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% in 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 during the period. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Citigroup cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at $23,160,066.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total value of $969,991.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at $23,160,066.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,398 shares of company stock worth $4,552,727. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM traded up $1.16 on Friday, reaching $128.29. 840,710 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,973,313. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $133.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.