Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 201 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 201 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 188,072 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,498,000 after acquiring an additional 12,062 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 16,204 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,025,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,363 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 3,586 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 31,057 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 3,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $558,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $131.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $137.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.02. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.33.

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.