GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 14,795.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.28% of Yum! Brands worth $121,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,306,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 54.2% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 140,412 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $18,838,000 after acquiring an additional 49,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $225,025,000 after acquiring an additional 44,428 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,763 shares of company stock valued at $2,637,564 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $157.30.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $1.31 during trading on Thursday, reaching $142.70. 212,089 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,011,014. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $146.88 and a 200-day moving average of $142.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

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.