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

Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,821 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $59,289,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $58,712,000 after buying an additional 255,495 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted 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. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.20.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE YUM traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $149.21. 1,972,015 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,010,830. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.09. The firm has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 56.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % 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. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.