Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by Woodline Partners LP

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 810.1% during the first quarter, owning 38,290 shares valued at approximately $6,025,000.
• Yum! Brands reported a quarterly EPS of $1.44, missing analysts' expectations of $1.46, with revenue of $1.93 billion, slightly below the forecast of $1.94 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.9%, with a payout ratio of 56.02%.

Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 810.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 34,083 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at $38,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,106 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.84, for a total transaction of $1,043,445.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,108,808.12. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $167.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, August 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $149.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $146.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.98.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 56.02%.

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.

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