Alkeon Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Alkeon Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 465,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 418 shares during the quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $65,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $122,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $19,041,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.4% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 30,504 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,228,000 after buying an additional 3,608 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $139.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $134.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.54. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.70 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

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.