Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 434,284 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 434,284 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $64,352,000. Yum! Brands comprises 4.3% of Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.16% of Yum! Brands at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 163.4% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 68,773 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,191,000 after purchasing an additional 42,668 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,827,000. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 14,982 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,220,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 37.6% during the 2nd quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 26,711 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,958,000 after buying an additional 7,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,348,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $267,795.45. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $153.09 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $42.49 billion, a PE ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $146.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.36.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given 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 was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.23.

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.