Scientech Research LLC Invests $2.09 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Scientech Research LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands with 13,266 shares valued at approximately $2.08 million, marking Yum! as the firm's 12th largest holding.
• Yum! Brands announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share with a yield of 2.0%, scheduled for payment on September 12th.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Yum! Brands, with ten analysts rating it as a Buy and thirteen as a Hold, while the average target price is estimated at $161.23.

Scientech Research LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 13,266 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $2,088,000. Yum! Brands makes up 0.6% of Scientech Research LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 430,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,944,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $4,271,543. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $1.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $146.04. 1,637,374 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,741,468. The firm has a market cap of $40.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.04.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

About Yum! Brands

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.