Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 16.7%, buying an additional 18,816 shares, bringing its total holdings to 131,412 shares valued at $20.68 million.
• Several institutional investors have also significantly increased their positions in Yum! Brands, with GAMMA Investing LLC growing its holdings by over 14,795% during the first quarter.
• Yum! Brands reported earnings per share of $1.44, missing analysts' expectations, while revealing a quarterly revenue of $1.93 billion, which also fell short of the forecast.

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 131,412 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 18,816 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $20,679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $121,137,000 after acquiring an additional 764,637 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $43,944,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $164.00 price objective (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of YUM stock traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $143.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,484,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,792,840. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $39.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.13.

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 negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,106 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.84, for a total value of $1,043,445.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,108,808.12. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock worth $4,271,543 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.