Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 5,281 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $831,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Citigroup increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.86.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 3.2%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.95 billion, a PE ratio of 29.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $145.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.44.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict 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 $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.