Aristides Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Aristides Capital LLC has acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc., purchasing 10,800 shares valued at approximately $1.7 million.
• Institutional investors now hold 82.37% of Yum! Brands' stock, with significant increases in holdings from firms like GAMMA Investing LLC and Vanguard Group.
• Yum! Brands recently reported a miss on EPS with $1.44 compared to the expected $1.46, alongside a revenue of $1.93 billion that also fell short of analyst estimates.

Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of 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 acquired 10,800 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,699,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $121,137,000 after buying an additional 764,637 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $97,453,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after buying an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $305,286,000 after buying an additional 430,511 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:YUM opened at $146.9160 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $40.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company's 50-day moving average is $146.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.21. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $164.00 price target (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,284 shares of company stock worth $4,310,663 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding YUM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.