2,915 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Acquired by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $381,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $580,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 761,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $664,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $893,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $137.80 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $136.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.78. The company has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a PE ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, 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 news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,742 shares of company stock valued at $2,734,628 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

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.