Mackenzie Financial Corp Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 254.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 242,668 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 174,280 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.09% of Yum! Brands worth $38,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $43,944,000. Man Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 602.1% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 364,836 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $48,946,000 after purchasing an additional 312,871 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,195,586 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $160,400,000 after purchasing an additional 273,547 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. 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.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM traded up $1.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $147.07. The stock had a trading volume of 1,643,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,577,187. The firm has a market cap of $40.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The business has a fifty day moving average of $145.67 and a 200 day moving average of $145.97.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal 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 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Melius began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $159.86.

Yum! Brands 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.