1,876 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Acquired by Stevens Capital Management LP

Key Points

• Stevens Capital Management LP has made a new investment of approximately $295,000 in Yum! Brands, acquiring 1,876 shares of the company in the first quarter.
• Thirteen analysts have rated Yum! Brands with a hold rating and ten with a buy rating, with an average target price of $159.86.
• Yum! Brands recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.93%.

Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,876 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 151.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $24,657,000 after purchasing an additional 94,355 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $270,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $939,000. First National Bank Sioux Falls bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $283,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $55,564,000 after acquiring an additional 6,673 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.6%

YUM stock traded down $2.30 during trading on Monday, hitting $144.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,658,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,126,939. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.83.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

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.