Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Purchases 6,910 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 28.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,592 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,910 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,060,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of YUM opened at $145.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.70.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48% 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 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 transaction of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.