Great Lakes Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,112 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 367,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,965,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd increased its position in Yum! Brands by 252.9% during the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 6,794 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $849,000 after acquiring an additional 4,869 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 70.4% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 6.9% in the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,590 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,555 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. 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 research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.53.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $139.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.67, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.03 and a 200 day moving average of $133.21. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,521 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,263. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Company 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.