Blueshift Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 32.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 151.4% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,657,000 after purchasing an additional 94,355 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $270,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $939,000. First National Bank Sioux Falls bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,564,000 after acquiring an additional 6,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. This trade represents a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.9%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $145.41 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.26. The firm has a market cap of $40.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

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.