Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Buys New Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,867 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,417,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Steph & Co. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,549 shares of company stock valued at $2,890,168. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.9%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $146.15 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.46 and a 200-day moving average of $156.02. The firm has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.65.

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.