Diversified Trust Co Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. by 113.9%, owning 9,278 shares valued at $1,375,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Analysts have mixed views on Yum! Brands, with Goldman Sachs upgrading it to a "buy" rating and a price target of $167.00, while others have adjusted their targets lower.
• Yum! Brands recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.44 per share, missing estimates, along with a 2.0% annualized dividend yield paid in September.

Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 113.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,278 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 4,940 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,098,801 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $330,267,000 after purchasing an additional 53,326 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $307,504,000 after acquiring an additional 27,355 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $305,286,000 after acquiring an additional 430,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,700,298 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $267,559,000 after buying an additional 23,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,192 shares of company stock valued at $5,346,507. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $3.75 during trading on Monday, hitting $149.41. 1,939,215 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,804,876. The firm has a market cap of $41.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.54.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.23.

About Yum! Brands

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.