Simon Quick Advisors LLC Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,516 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $475,714,000 after acquiring an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $418,692,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $338,296,000 after acquiring an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on YUM. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $158.24.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $143.88. The company had a trading volume of 1,180,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,014,299. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.32. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization 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.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This trade represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,763 shares of company stock worth $2,637,564. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.