Sterling Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Sterling Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 25.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,705 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Steph & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Jessup Wealth Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.12.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.0%

YUM stock opened at $156.36 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.57. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $153.77 and a 200 day moving average of $155.97.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at $9,522,735.48. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,511.84. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.