Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $157.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.29.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $148.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $146.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.25.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,413,371.40. This trade represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 32,112 shares of company stock valued at $4,760,814 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.