Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Lowers Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 161,864 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 805 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $22,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,058,156,000 after purchasing an additional 373,232 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,914,257,000 after acquiring an additional 678,659 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $331,831,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Yum! Brands by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $208,045,000 after acquiring an additional 570,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,555,012 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $203,178,000 after acquiring an additional 33,501 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $0.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $129.40. 10,194 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,975,964. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $135.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.01. The company has a market cap of $36.44 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total transaction of $963,332.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,900.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total value of $859,222.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,515 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,080. Company 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.