Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Acquires 21,117 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1,199.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,877 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 21,117 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 12.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,349 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 1,375 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 124,968 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,553,000 after acquiring an additional 10,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizons Wealth Management bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $137.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $38.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.76 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.49.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

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.