Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Chicago Capital LLC

Chicago Capital LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.5% in the second quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 23,148 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,066,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 9,324 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 81,561 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,804,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 19.4% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 92,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,011,000 after acquiring an additional 15,034 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,900.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $133.87. The company had a trading volume of 1,930,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,752. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s fifty day moving average is $132.64 and its 200 day moving average is $135.89. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

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.