Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 64.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,324 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 4,812 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $147.12 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $40.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.31, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $145.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.49.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $157.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. The trade was a 4.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172. Company 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.

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