Aberdeen Group plc Increases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc significantly increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 102.6% in the first quarter, now holding approximately 0.09% of the company valued at $37.2 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have recently increased their positions in Yum! Brands, with institutional investors owning around 82.37% of the stock.
• Yum! Brands reported $1.44 EPS for the last quarter, missing estimates, while analysts have a consensus hold rating with an average target price of $161.23.

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 102.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 238,444 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 120,730 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.09% of Yum! Brands worth $37,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $148.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $145.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.53. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $41.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its 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). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Melius started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, 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. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,958 shares of company stock valued at $1,455,725. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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