Hyman Charles D Raises Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Hyman Charles D raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 154.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,400 shares during the period. Hyman Charles D’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.2% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 31,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,990,000 after buying an additional 1,864 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 31,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,908,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.3% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.6% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 55,488 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,373 shares of company stock worth $4,087,920 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $135.91. The stock had a trading volume of 1,901,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,009,479. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.26 billion, a PE ratio of 24.10, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $138.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.92.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.