Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,685 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 9,174 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $10,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 24.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,022,648,000 after buying an additional 5,607,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after buying an additional 3,470,883 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $331,831,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $200,668,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after buying an additional 1,362,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $134.92 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.94 billion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $132.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.92.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.