MQS Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,962 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM – Get Rating) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,962 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 396.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 288 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 668.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the period. TD Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $57,000. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $126.85 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $128.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.98. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.96 and a 12-month high of $133.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The restaurant operator reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 15.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 22nd were given a $0.605 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 53.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Cowen reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $155.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 4,259 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.52, for a total value of $547,366.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,076,011.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 4,259 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.52, for a total value of $547,366.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,076,011.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $510,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,393 shares in the company, valued at $1,871,090. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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Yum! Brands, Inc operates as a service restaurant company. The firm engages in the development, operation, franchise, and licenses of a system of restaurants. It operates through the following segments: KFC Division, Pizza Hut Division, Taco Bell Division, and Habit Burger Grill Division. The KFC Division segment consists of all operations of the KFC concept.