Rodgers Brothers Inc. Takes $517,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Rodgers Brothers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,727 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI cut 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 report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned 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 Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $0.92 on Friday, hitting $128.05. 1,874,399 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,980,542. The company has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $133.71 and its 200 day moving average is $134.85.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,160,066.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,552,727. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.