Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC cut its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 20.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,756 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 454 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $226,000. Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,933 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 19,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,106,000 after purchasing an additional 5,242 shares during the period. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,039,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This trade represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,763 shares of company stock valued at $2,637,564. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $143.37 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $145.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.21. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $39.85 billion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.24.

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.