Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Sandy Cove Advisors LLC

Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 22.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,065 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the period. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $331,831,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,914,257,000 after purchasing an additional 678,659 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,254,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $163,906,000 after acquiring an additional 649,922 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $208,045,000 after buying an additional 570,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 129.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 769,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,147,000 after purchasing an additional 434,284 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $132.46. The stock had a trading volume of 5,818,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,881,942. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $137.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.07. The firm has a market cap of $37.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.06 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total transaction of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,596,900.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.