Cerity Partners LLC Buys 11,207 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 109,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,207 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $15,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,445,000 after buying an additional 178,612 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,708,000 after acquiring an additional 147,180 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $19,041,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $12,846,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $137.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.70 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.46.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total value of $959,600.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,307,396.90. The trade was a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company 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.