Armistice Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Armistice Capital LLC has purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, acquiring 49,452 shares valued at approximately $7.78 million in the first quarter.
• Several analysts have adjusted their price targets for Yum! Brands, with notable changes including Wells Fargo lowering its target from $160 to $155 and Redburn Atlantic upgrading it from "neutral" to "buy" with a new target of $177.
• Yum! Brands recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71, resulting in an annualized dividend of $2.84 and a dividend yield of 1.9% for shareholders of record.

Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 49,452 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $7,782,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the first quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,614 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,177 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on 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. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $146.89 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $146.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.18. The company has a market cap of $40.77 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business'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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the company'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 value of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,284 shares of company stock valued at $4,310,663. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.

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