BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 31,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,213,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in 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 last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $149.21 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $151.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.04.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) 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. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.20.

Yum! Brands Company 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.