Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Decreases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. cut its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 75.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,509 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 128,116 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank increased its position in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $159.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $158.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the business’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 $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.