US Bancorp DE Cuts Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

US Bancorp DE lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,970 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,248 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $15,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 24.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,022,648,000 after acquiring an additional 5,607,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,512,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,883 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $200,668,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after buying an additional 1,362,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 36.6% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $301,498,000 after buying an additional 582,267 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Evercore ISI cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.44.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,326.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,326.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,673 shares of company stock worth $13,918,095. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $132.34 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.79 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.89.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.08%.

About Yum! Brands

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.