Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,107,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 28,695 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.76% of Yum! Brands worth $320,407,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Private Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 219.4% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.0%

YUM stock opened at $155.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.17 billion, a PE ratio of 30.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $152.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $128.73 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

Insider Transactions 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $42,274.92. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 30,695 shares of company stock valued at $4,582,843 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.30.

Yum! Brands Company 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.