1,937 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Purchased by Leo Wealth LLC

Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,058,156,000 after buying an additional 373,232 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,914,257,000 after buying an additional 678,659 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,278,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $409,596,000 after buying an additional 124,080 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $331,831,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $208,045,000 after buying an additional 570,263 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $136.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $138.28 and a 200 day moving average of $134.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,454 shares of company stock valued at $3,656,748 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company 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.