Mackenzie Financial Corp Grows Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 53.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,997 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 20,193 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,947,399 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $784,673,000 after purchasing an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $720,485,000 after purchasing an additional 210,238 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 19.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,507,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $652,773,000 after purchasing an additional 901,181 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,365,517 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $517,792,000 after purchasing an additional 67,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,278,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $409,596,000 after purchasing an additional 124,080 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $138.50 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $137.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.17. The firm has a market cap of $38.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.24.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 currently 47.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

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.