UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Cuts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lessened its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,146,294 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,726 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned approximately 0.79% of Yum! Brands worth $343,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.5% during the second quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 13,772 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.1% during the second quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 8,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan now owns 37,033 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Field & Main Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1,373.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,631,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $740,462,000 after purchasing an additional 4,317,526 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.1%

YUM stock opened at $154.08 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $153.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.79. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $170.14. The company has a market cap of $42.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th 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, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Yum! Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.65.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474. The trade was a 99.91% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $39,972.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 63,771 shares in the company, valued at $9,766,528.65. This trade represents a 0.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 18,512 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,517 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.