PDS Planning Inc Decreases Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

PDS Planning Inc reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 262 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,022,648,000 after buying an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after acquiring an additional 3,470,883 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $200,668,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,033,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 36.6% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $301,498,000 after purchasing an additional 582,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.44.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $134.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.81. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.60 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.88 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.10.

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 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 49.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,622 shares of company stock worth $4,172,740 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.