Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 38.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,320 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,918 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,352,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $143.37 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $147.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $267,795.45. This trade represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.