Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. Makes New $475,000 Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,540 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,289,000. Finally, Man Group plc grew its position in Yum! Brands by 602.1% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 364,836 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $48,946,000 after acquiring an additional 312,871 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of YUM traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $143.82. The company had a trading volume of 3,184,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,017,368. The stock has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.68. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.57%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.