USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 11,321 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd has reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. by 0.8%, holding approximately 1.49 million shares worth $234 million as of its recent filing.
• Insider trading activity showed CEO David W. Gibbs sold over 7,000 shares, resulting in a 6.47% reduction of his ownership in the company.
• Yum! Brands declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, with a yield of 2.0%, to be paid on September 12 to shareholders of record on September 2.

USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,487,142 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 11,321 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands comprises about 1.8% of USS Investment Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. USS Investment Management Ltd owned about 0.54% of Yum! Brands worth $234,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after buying an additional 483,918 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,045,475 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $274,421,000 after buying an additional 258,369 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in 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 buying an additional 27,355 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in 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 valued at $305,286,000 after buying an additional 430,511 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 1st 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 during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $4,271,543 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $1.95 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $146.04. 1,637,374 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,741,468. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $146.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given 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 is Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.