Cohen Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cohen Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 7,500 shares during the period. Cohen Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $418,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,944,000. Finally, Man Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 602.1% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 364,836 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $48,946,000 after buying an additional 312,871 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $157.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company'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 value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,742 shares of company stock worth $1,861,504. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $149.81 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $145.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid 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 1.90%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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