Concentric Capital Strategies LP Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Concentric Capital Strategies LP acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 84,419 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $11,326,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE YUM traded down $0.79 on Friday, hitting $147.19. 1,068,582 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,003,510. The company has a market capitalization of $40.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $151.04 and a 200 day moving average of $141.48. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. This trade represents a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.