Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Buys 851 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 23.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,492 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 851 shares during the period. Aristeia Capital L.L.C.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 61.0% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 53,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,137,000 after acquiring an additional 20,413 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $7,645,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 409,686 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $54,267,000 after buying an additional 8,256 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 70.8% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,853 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,438,000 after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of YUM opened at $130.37 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.43. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $36.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,326.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.