Clear Street Markets LLC Increases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 93.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Clear Street Markets LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $73,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.7% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 578,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,380,000 after acquiring an additional 51,154 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 13,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after buying an additional 3,984 shares during the last quarter. HS Management Partners LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 945,708 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $124,909,000 after buying an additional 154,815 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 48.7% in the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 363,490 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,010,000 after buying an additional 119,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 75,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,032,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 80.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $126.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.01. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.96 and a 52-week high of $143.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.23.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.17. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.31% and a negative return on equity of 16.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 29th will be paid a $0.605 dividend. This represents a $2.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 28th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 48.99%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,332 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.46, for a total value of $179,100.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165,789.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.87, for a total transaction of $531,603.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,846,072.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.46, for a total value of $179,100.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165,789.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,951 shares of company stock valued at $2,444,113. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $139.00 to $138.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $142.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.84.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through four segments: the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division. It 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.