Clearstead Trust LLC Makes New $390,000 Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,988 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pointe Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $204,000. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,075 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $352,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 68.1% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,957 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,887 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.73 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $134.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,452,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,162,501. The firm has a market cap of $37.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.17 and a 200 day moving average of $131.53.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.72 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.31.

Yum! Brands Company 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.