Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $18.28 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 56.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 139,896 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,499 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $18,279,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. RB Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 761,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $664,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $893,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.0 %

YUM opened at $137.84 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The stock has a market cap of $38.80 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 47.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.