PDS Planning Inc Reduces Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

PDS Planning Inc lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 262 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.8% in the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Evercore ISI cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.44.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $134.72 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $123.60 and a one year high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.67, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $134.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.81.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.59 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, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 49.08%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at $4,017,818.61. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,622 shares of company stock valued at $4,172,740 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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.