Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Trims Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 36.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,534,254 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,044,861 shares during the period. Yum! Brands comprises approximately 3.1% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP owned approximately 1.27% of Yum! Brands worth $556,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on YUM. Melius started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $159.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,084,113.80. This trade represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $1.81 during trading on Thursday, hitting $145.98. 1,488,976 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,765,254. The company has a market cap of $40.58 billion, a PE ratio of 29.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $145.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $145.35. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Yum! Brands Profile

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.