Absolute Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Absolute Capital Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 44.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 121.8% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $227,367,000 after buying an additional 999,443 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,208,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $150,945,000 after buying an additional 533,321 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 129.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 769,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,147,000 after buying an additional 434,284 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,663,000. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its position in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $720,485,000 after purchasing an additional 210,238 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Barclays cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.75.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $141.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.91 billion, a PE ratio of 25.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $137.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $130.92. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

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.