Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,303 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 673 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,708 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after acquiring an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 82.9% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,064 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 4,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 11.6% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,153,000 after purchasing an additional 4,613 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $134.22 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.70 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $37.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.50.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,307,396.90. This trade represents a 4.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.94.

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.