22,032 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group reduced its Yum! Brands stake by 3.3%, selling 22,032 shares in the third quarter and retaining 646,989 shares valued at approximately $88.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 82.37% of the company.
• Yum! Brands insiders sold 4,288 shares worth $666,149 over the past 90 days, including two CEO transactions conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.
• Analyst sentiment remains moderately positive: the stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $171.65, compared with a recent share price of $157.33. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.75, yielding about 1.9% annually.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 646,989 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 22,032 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Yum! Brands worth $88,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 241 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.89, for a total transaction of $32,990.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 482 shares in the company, valued at $65,980.98. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Turner sold 285 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.11, for a total value of $39,931.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 63,225 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,858,454.75. The trade was a 0.45% 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 have sold a total of 4,288 shares of company stock worth $666,149 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Yum! Brands from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Argus cut Yum! Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $171.65.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $157.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $146.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.48. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $134.26 and a fifty-two week high of $170.14. The firm has a market cap of $42.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that operates, franchises and licenses quick-service and fast-casual restaurants. Its principal brands are KFC, which specializes in fried and other chicken products; Taco Bell, which offers Mexican-inspired food; Pizza Hut, which sells pizzas and related menu items; and The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual burger restaurant chain.

The company's business is primarily franchise-based, with restaurants operated by independent franchisees and licensees alongside company-operated locations.

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