Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 100,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,496 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $14,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 27.3% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,524,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim cut their price target 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, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.29.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $148.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.25.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 64 shares in the company, valued at $9,559.68. This trade represents a 95.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total transaction of $261,161.55. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 32,112 shares of company stock valued at $4,760,814 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.