Graver Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Graver Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $268,000. Yum! Brands makes up 0.3% of Graver Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on YUM. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $1.09 on Tuesday, hitting $145.71. 1,879,956 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,002,008. The firm's 50-day moving average is $150.79 and its 200 day moving average is $141.68. The stock has a market cap of $40.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

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.