Carnegie Investment Counsel Has $261,000 Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Carnegie Investment Counsel lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,870 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mechanics Bank Trust Department lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 13,812 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in Yum! Brands by 408.2% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 747 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Iowa State Bank lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 20,291 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,835,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $219,000. Finally, Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,865,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of 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 “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,017,818.61. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 94,668 shares of company stock worth $12,976,413 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $133.22 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $117.11 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $37.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.28.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 47.52%.

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.