Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Bought by Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 159.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 5,039 shares during the quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after purchasing an additional 684,946 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,945,791,000 after purchasing an additional 297,641 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,217,826,000 after buying an additional 218,046 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $569,723,000 after buying an additional 40,757 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $160.12 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The company has a market cap of $44.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $157.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.51.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.