SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 135.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,224 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 6,461 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 624.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 106,005 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,158,000 after acquiring an additional 91,367 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 127,917 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,298,000 after acquiring an additional 6,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 58.1% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,635 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 2,071 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 have recently issued reports on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $158.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. The trade was a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.1%

YUM opened at $143.88 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $39.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $145.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.35. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

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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