Blair William & Co. IL Has $5.54 Million Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 127 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,944,000. Man Group plc boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 602.1% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 364,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $48,946,000 after acquiring an additional 312,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Yum! Brands by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,195,586 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $160,400,000 after purchasing an additional 273,547 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $141.22 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $145.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

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.