Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,477 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $105,649,000 after acquiring an additional 8,888 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $52,804,000 after acquiring an additional 57,112 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,609,000 after acquiring an additional 11,532 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,423,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,786,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $40,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,665 shares of company stock valued at $437,283 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 target price on Yum! Brands and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.22.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $151.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $159.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.85 billion, a PE ratio of 24.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.