Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by Candlestick Capital Management LP

Candlestick Capital Management LP raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 660,916 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 119,673 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands comprises about 2.4% of Candlestick Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Candlestick Capital Management LP owned 0.24% of Yum! Brands worth $100,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Circle Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.0% in the third quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $814,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,517,000. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $200,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 82,957 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,609,000 after acquiring an additional 3,017 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.2%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $160.30 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39. The stock has a market cap of $44.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $158.69 and a 200-day moving average of $151.88.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.