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

Cantillon Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,040,234 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 22,945 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $310,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during 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 period. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the third quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 75 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 2,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total value of $419,839.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,010,292. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the transaction, the insider owned 64 shares in the company, valued at $9,559.68. This represents a 95.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,695 shares of company stock worth $4,582,843. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $153.36 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $125.51 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $42.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.51.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $162.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday, November 17th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.