Apollon Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,226 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,645,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 140.1% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,763,000 after buying an additional 73,844 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,730,000 after buying an additional 7,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $984,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $133.59 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.70 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $37.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $134.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This trade represents a 51.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,319 shares of company stock worth $2,063,221. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.