Sciencast Management LP Acquires Shares of 22,492 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP has acquired 22,492 shares of Yum! Brands, Inc., valued at approximately $3.5 million, reflecting growing institutional interest in the company.
• Yum! Brands reported earnings of $1.44 per share, which was below analysts' expectations, despite a 9.6% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share on September 12th, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.0%.

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 22,492 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $3,539,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Melius assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $144.57 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.06.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 56.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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