Caxton Associates LP Has $2.65 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Caxton Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 529.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,307 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 17,082 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 35.2% during the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 42,297 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,285,000 after acquiring an additional 11,022 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 692,970 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $86,580,000 after acquiring an additional 11,603 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 616,573 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $76,439,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 227,959 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $28,481,000 after acquiring an additional 20,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,703 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM traded up $0.29 on Wednesday, hitting $137.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,279,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,945,923. The company's fifty day moving average price is $138.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.33. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $38.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on YUM. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.80.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,521 shares of company stock worth $4,620,263 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.