Range Financial Group LLC Has $263,000 Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Range Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,674 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,021,194,000 after buying an additional 163,462 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake 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 worth $475,714,000 after acquiring an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $418,692,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $338,296,000 after acquiring an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th 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. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.30.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $143.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.21. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 56.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,763 shares of company stock valued at $2,637,564 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

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.