Courier Capital LLC Has $546,000 Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Courier Capital LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,467 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $3,306,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 54.2% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 140,412 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,838,000 after acquiring an additional 49,362 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $225,025,000 after acquiring an additional 44,428 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $143.12 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.21.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Guggenheim increased 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. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.30.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This trade represents a 13.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,763 shares of company stock valued at $2,637,564. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.