GAMMA Investing LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 14,795.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 764,637 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned approximately 0.28% of Yum! Brands worth $121,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,021,194,000 after buying an additional 163,462 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $338,296,000 after buying an additional 24,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $143.82 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.78. The stock has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value 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 represents a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,984,484.01. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.70.

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.