Duality Advisers LP Has $1.77 Million Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,553 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 762 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $720,485,000 after acquiring an additional 210,238 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,278,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $409,596,000 after buying an additional 124,080 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 121.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $227,367,000 after buying an additional 999,443 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,521,511 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $190,098,000 after buying an additional 12,654 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,208,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $150,945,000 after buying an additional 533,321 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

YUM opened at $139.06 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $137.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $130.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 47.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Oppenheimer upgraded Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.