Quantitative Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Quantitative Investment Management LLC has acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc., purchasing 8,234 shares valued at approximately $1.295 million during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in Yum! Brands, including GAMMA Investing LLC which grew its position by 14,795.6% in the first quarter.
• Yum! Brands announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annualized rate of $2.84 with a dividend yield of 1.9%, to be paid on September 12th.

Quantitative Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 8,234 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,295,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 764,637 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $97,453,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $475,714,000 after acquiring an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $5,367,427,000 after acquiring an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Melius initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 263 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.92, for a total value of $36,798.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $245,559.60. The trade was a 13.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,284 shares of company stock worth $4,310,663 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $147.7230 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

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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