Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Raises Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 820.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,316 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 7,413 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 151.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $24,657,000 after purchasing an additional 94,355 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $270,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $939,000. First National Bank Sioux Falls acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $55,564,000 after acquiring an additional 6,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $159.86.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $146.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,152,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,674,857. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $145.85 and a 200-day moving average of $145.58. The stock has a market cap of $40.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

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.