Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Invests $831,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 5,281 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $831,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. PBMares Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $225,000. Win Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $854,000. Spirepoint Private Client LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $213,000. Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 134,710 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $21,198,000 after purchasing an additional 6,793 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.31 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $40.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.74. The business's 50 day moving average is $145.06 and its 200-day moving average is $143.44.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company 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 business posted $1.15 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Barclays lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup lifted 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $157.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,470 shares of company stock valued at $1,821,172. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.

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