Stephens Consulting LLC Sells 80 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Stephens Consulting LLC lessened its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 13.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $331,831,000. 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 acquiring an additional 678,659 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,254,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $163,906,000 after purchasing an additional 649,922 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 55.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 129.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 769,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,147,000 after purchasing an additional 434,284 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $132.46. 5,818,971 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,881,942. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $137.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 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.