2,018 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Purchased by MBB Public Markets I LLC

Key Points

• MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired 2,018 shares of Yum! Brands, valued at around $318,000, marking a new investment during the first quarter, contributing to a trend of increasing institutional ownership.
• Yum! Brands reported earnings per share of $1.44 for the last quarter, which was below the consensus estimate of $1.46, and generated $1.93 billion in revenue, slightly under expectations.
• Despite a recent stock rating changes from various analysts, the consensus target price for Yum! Brands is $161.23, with ten analysts rating the stock as a Buy and thirteen as a Hold.

MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,018 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,367,427,000 after acquiring an additional 483,918 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,045,475 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $274,421,000 after acquiring an additional 258,369 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $307,504,000 after acquiring an additional 27,355 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $305,286,000 after acquiring an additional 430,511 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,700,298 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $267,559,000 after acquiring an additional 23,008 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on YUM shares. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $164.00 price objective (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.3%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $146.04 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.

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