6,373 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Acquired by Oak Thistle LLC

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,373 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,003,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Efficient Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $224,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 99,448 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $15,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in Yum! Brands by 820.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 8,316 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 7,413 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 8,528 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Obermeyer Wealth Partners acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $266,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of YUM stock traded up $0.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $146.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,152,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,674,857. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $145.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.58. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $40.80 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. 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. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,084,113.80. This trade represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.