Cumberland Partners Ltd Reduces Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cumberland Partners Ltd decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 32,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 860 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 59.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $69,596,000 after purchasing an additional 198,069 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,752,000 after buying an additional 16,124 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 11,541.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 141,678 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,512,000 after acquiring an additional 140,461 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of YUM traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $140.10. 2,140,479 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,936,988. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.54. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on YUM shares. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 5th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.75.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% 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.