Fisher Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Fisher Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,671 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 7,186 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Augustine Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 3,589 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the third quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 3,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 17,189 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,613,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $151.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $41.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $169.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $156.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.68.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,511.84. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 5,364 shares of company stock worth $827,837 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.89.

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.