Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,480 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,450 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Yum! Brands by 140.1% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,763,000 after acquiring an additional 73,844 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,161 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 13,030 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after buying an additional 1,920 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 38,585 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,111,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,326.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $129.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 2.06 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. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.53.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued 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 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 analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands 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.