Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,887 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 59.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,596,000 after acquiring an additional 198,069 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,752,000 after purchasing an additional 16,124 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.9% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 66,364 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,671,000 after acquiring an additional 38,818 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $134.34 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $138.17 and a 200-day moving average of $131.69. The company has a market capitalization of $37.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.53.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.