Meridian Wealth Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,621 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $925,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3,088.9% in the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of YUM opened at $135.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.70 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $134.45 and a 200 day moving average of $134.49.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

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.