Brighton Jones LLC Increases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 78.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,197 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $69,596,000 after acquiring an additional 198,069 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,752,000 after purchasing an additional 16,124 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.9% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 66,364 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,671,000 after buying an additional 38,818 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on YUM. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.75.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $135.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $38.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $138.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.40. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands 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.