AlphaQuest LLC Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1,023,700.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,238 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,237 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,611,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,749 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $126,746,000 after purchasing an additional 19,210 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 71.7% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 10,707 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 4,472 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 3,591 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.92, for a total transaction of $36,798.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $245,559.60. This trade represents a 13.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,284 shares of company stock valued at $4,310,663. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $147.7230 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $146.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.05. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $41.00 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.