Eastern Bank Invests $1.16 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,325 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,163,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 21.1% in the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.3% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,141 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.2% during the first quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 4,650 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.4% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 13,097 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,816,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 21.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,993 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,961,000 after buying an additional 7,686 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded up $1.57 on Wednesday, reaching $134.93. The stock had a trading volume of 50,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,937,396. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $134.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.28 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,326.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,918,095. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen cut shares of Yum! Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $146.44.

Yum! Brands 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.