Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes $8.21 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 55,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $8,212,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after buying an additional 483,918 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2,288.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 502,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,426,000 after buying an additional 481,235 shares during the period. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $64,352,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $305,286,000 after buying an additional 430,511 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE:YUM opened at $143.37 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $147.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.30. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,413,371.40. This trade represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,795.45. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is 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.