Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,941 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $418,692,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $338,296,000 after purchasing an additional 24,681 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $147.74 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.91. The company has a market capitalization of $41.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

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.