Burney Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Burney Co. lessened its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 26.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,433 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 21,229 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $206,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 10,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC now owns 25,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,858,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 177,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,005,000 after purchasing an additional 14,134 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $153.31 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $42.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total transaction of $3,627,901.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total transaction of $419,839.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,010,292. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 30,970 shares of company stock worth $4,624,805 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $162.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday, November 17th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.