Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $3.48 Million Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,947 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 2,797 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,021,194,000 after acquiring an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $418,692,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $338,296,000 after purchasing an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $145.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,926,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,005,482. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $149.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.24. The stock has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler raised their price target 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. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.70.

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.