Markel Group Inc. Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Markel Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 80.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 156,502 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. owned 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $21,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,489 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $907,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 19.4% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $204,000. JB Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $49,234,000 after buying an additional 10,526 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,622 shares of company stock worth $4,172,740. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to an "inline" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $137.21. 1,727,132 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,949,292. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.60 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.81. The company has a market cap of $38.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

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.