Barclays PLC Sells 274,582 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Barclays PLC reduced its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 31.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 609,218 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 274,582 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.22% of Yum! Brands worth $92,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $105,649,000 after purchasing an additional 8,888 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 115.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after purchasing an additional 703,891 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in Yum! Brands by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $52,804,000 after purchasing an additional 57,112 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after purchasing an additional 713,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,423,000 after buying an additional 10,632 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $160.12 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.26 billion, a PE ratio of 28.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $157.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.51. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.05%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.