Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 52,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,402 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after acquiring an additional 684,946 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,240,190 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,334,427,000 after acquiring an additional 121,304 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $706,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,348,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $509,025,000 after acquiring an additional 176,221 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.12.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $151.47 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $155.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.68. The firm has a market cap of $41.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 48.39%.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.