Creative Planning Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Creative Planning lowered its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 6,917 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $12,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $3,415,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at about $7,645,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 140.1% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,763,000 after buying an additional 73,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 333,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000,000 after buying an additional 5,137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $134.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $37.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.13. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.28 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,326.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,918,095 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. 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. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.53.

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.