Aureus Asset Management LLC Purchases 1,300 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Aureus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 78.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,966 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Yum! Brands by 409.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 47,061 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,525,000 after acquiring an additional 37,828 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 45.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 12,794 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,774,000 after acquiring an additional 4,012 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,119 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 803 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Loop Capital cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $138.94 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $123.70 and a one year high of $143.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $135.15 and its 200 day moving average is $134.51. The firm has a market cap of $38.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. This represents a 4.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.