Graham Capital Management L.P. Invests $4.71 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 29,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,711,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the first quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,614 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.3% in the first quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $146.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $146.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.18.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.02%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,084,113.80. This trade represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,284 shares of company stock worth $4,310,663. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $167.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.23.

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.