BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Invests $4.21 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 31,400 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $4,213,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of YUM. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Yum! Brands by 128.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 9,128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 5,134 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 130,858 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,620,000 after purchasing an additional 14,032 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $49,234,000 after purchasing an additional 10,526 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 658 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,168 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 1,735 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE YUM traded up $1.81 on Tuesday, reaching $148.39. 2,096,856 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,011,226. The business's fifty day moving average price is $151.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on YUM. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Sixteen research 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.70.

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.