Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,017 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 2,102 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $10,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 68.5% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 5,508 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,749 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $126,746,000 after purchasing an additional 19,210 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 92.2% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 10,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 4,903 shares during the period. Finally, Norinchukin Bank The boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 12,524 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,680,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price target (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Melius initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 9,958 shares of company stock valued at $1,455,725 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0%

YUM stock opened at $148.19 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.65. The firm has a market cap of $41.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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