APG Asset Management N.V. Sells 4,649 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

APG Asset Management N.V. lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,351 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,649 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. owned 0.09% of Yum! Brands worth $40,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.8% during the third quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 4,085 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $621,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the third quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays set a $185.00 price target on Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $168.01 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $157.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

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.