Longboard Asset Management LP Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Longboard Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,519 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 649.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 44.6% in the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 441 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $131.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.63. The company has a market cap of $36.70 billion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.