Virtu Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 6,705 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $876,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.9% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,703 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,336,000 after buying an additional 4,431 shares during the period. Prudential PLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 25,760 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,218,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.6% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 22,908 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,862,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,236,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $559,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM traded down $1.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $136.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,418,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,524,531. The business has a 50 day moving average of $138.25 and a 200-day moving average of $134.50. The company has a market cap of $38.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total value of $859,222.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,454 shares of company stock worth $3,656,748 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.