Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.4%, owning approximately 0.34% of the company worth $149.18 million.
• Several hedge funds have made significant moves with Yum! Brands, including GAMMA Investing LLC, which boosted its holdings by over 14,795.6% during the first quarter.
• Yum! Brands reported a net margin of 18.11% and earnings of $1.44 per share for the last quarter, falling short of the consensus estimate of $1.46.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 948,084 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 3,335 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.34% of Yum! Brands worth $149,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $97,453,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,944,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,284 shares of company stock valued at $4,310,663. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $149.2170 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $41.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $145.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.82.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.23.

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.

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