Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 524.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,261 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 32,976 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $97,453,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,367,427,000 after acquiring an additional 483,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,944,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands
In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,958 shares of company stock worth $1,455,725 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Melius initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $164.00 target price (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0%
Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $148.19 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.53. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $41.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.
Yum! Brands Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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