CWA Asset Management Group LLC Takes $270,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,716 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,306,000. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 54.2% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 140,412 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,838,000 after buying an additional 49,362 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $158.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total value of $1,028,160.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,470 shares of company stock valued at $1,821,172 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $138.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $145.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.35. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

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.