Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Invests $5.12 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 32,552 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $5,122,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,444,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,614 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $569,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,177 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded down $1.95 on Tuesday, hitting $146.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,637,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,741,468. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The stock's 50 day moving average is $146.67 and its 200-day moving average is $148.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $4,271,543. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Melius initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Company 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.