Shell Asset Management Co. Cuts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Shell Asset Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,005 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 159 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $28,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $128.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $133.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.85.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.06 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 168,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,160,066.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total value of $969,991.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,160,066.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,552,727 over the last quarter. 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.