Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 1,290 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $134.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.81. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $123.60 and a one year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of Yum! Brands 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of Yum! Brands 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,622 shares of company stock valued at $4,172,740. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.44.

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.