PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 244,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,734 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $36,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 10,590 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,167,000. Capstone Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $398,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 50,785 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,683,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 174.1% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 23,436 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,545,000 after buying an additional 14,887 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $531,544. The trade was a 34.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,511.84. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,890 shares of company stock valued at $451,123. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $154.47 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.46. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The stock has a market cap of $42.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

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.