876,654 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Bought by Junto Capital Management LP

Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 876,654 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $133,251,000. Yum! Brands makes up approximately 2.7% of Junto Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Junto Capital Management LP owned about 0.32% of Yum! Brands as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,457 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 146,403 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $22,253,000 after acquiring an additional 10,767 shares in the last quarter. Delta Global Management LP raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. Delta Global Management LP now owns 14,842 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,256,000 after acquiring an additional 4,097 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 9.5% during the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 33.0% in the third quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $160.30 on Monday. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 28.88, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $158.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.92.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,607.94. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 over the last 90 days. 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.