Captrust Financial Advisors Sells 1,556 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Captrust Financial Advisors lowered its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 92,719 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,556 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $12,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $228,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 930,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $123,243,000 after buying an additional 58,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $138.94 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $38.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.51. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.70 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Profile

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.