Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,114 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $994,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 35,519 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,962,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 42.3% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 131,779 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $18,411,000 after purchasing an additional 39,171 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 83.2% during the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,907 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,524,000 after buying an additional 4,955 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.2% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,727 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,918,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 455.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 14,149 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 11,601 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. The trade was a 4.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on YUM. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE YUM traded down $1.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $137.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,044,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,913,281. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $135.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.60, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $124.76 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 50.09%.

Yum! Brands 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.