Donoghue Forlines LLC Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• Donoghue Forlines LLC has acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, purchasing 14,583 shares valued at approximately $2.3 million during the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds have increased their investments in Yum! Brands, with Brighton Jones LLC boosting its holdings by 8% and FIL Ltd by 70.8% in the fourth quarter.
• Yum! Brands reported an EPS of $1.44 for its latest quarter, missing analysts' expectations, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.71.

Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 14,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $2,295,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 22,592 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,555,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610 shares in the last quarter. NS Partners Ltd boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 177,729 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $27,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 218,041 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $34,310,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WBH Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 14,463 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 263 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.92, for a total transaction of $36,798.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $245,559.60. This represents a 13.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,983 shares of company stock valued at $2,187,764 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM traded down $1.22 on Friday, hitting $141.34. The company had a trading volume of 2,263,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,090,389. The company has a market capitalization of $39.23 billion, a PE ratio of 27.88, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.73. The company's fifty day moving average price is $145.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.12. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued 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 2.0%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

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.