Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,058,156,000 after buying an additional 373,232 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,914,257,000 after purchasing an additional 678,659 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $331,831,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Yum! Brands by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $208,045,000 after purchasing an additional 570,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,555,012 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $203,178,000 after purchasing an additional 33,501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on YUM. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $131.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.02. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.