Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Trims Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership decreased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 62.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 226,815 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 383,607 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $33,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 219.4% in the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $49,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,559.68. This trade represents a 95.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 38,146 shares of company stock worth $5,699,770 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $144.99 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $147.42 and a 200 day moving average of $146.56. The company has a market capitalization of $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

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.