Aigen Investment Management LP Invests $1 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• Aigen Investment Management LP has made a new investment of approximately $1 million in Yum! Brands, acquiring 6,371 shares of the company.
• Yum! Brands reported a missed earnings estimate of $1.44 per share, compared to the expected $1.46, with quarterly revenue of $1.93 billion falling shy of the $1.94 billion consensus.
• The company's dividend yield stands at 2.0% following a recently announced quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share.

Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,371 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,003,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,518 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 4,987 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 890 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 20,014 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,685,000 after purchasing an additional 2,837 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $142.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,606,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,086,219. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $145.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business'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 transaction 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,983 shares of company stock valued at $2,187,764. 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.