Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Invests $355,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd has acquired 2,259 shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. valued at approximately $355,000, indicating increased institutional interest in the company.
• Yum! Brands reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.30 for the latest quarter, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations, although revenues fell short of forecasts at $1.79 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71, which gives it an annualized yield of 1.93% with a payout ratio of 56.57%.

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,259 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $355,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,989 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,585,000 after acquiring an additional 12,472 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,157 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,784 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,459,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 3,065 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM traded up $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $145.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,930,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,613,203. The company has a market capitalization of $40.42 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $145.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.26. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 90 days, insiders have sold 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their target price 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. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of 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 research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $159.86.

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.