Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Invests $935,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 6,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $935,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2,273.3% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,822 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 26,105 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the period. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $113,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $143.37 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The business has a fifty day moving average of $147.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,078 shares of company stock worth $4,304,785. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Melius began coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.14.

About Yum! Brands

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.