King Luther Capital Management Corp Reduces Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced their stake in Yum! Brands by 12.1%, now owning 15,445 shares valued at approximately $2.43 million.
• Yum! Brands reported earnings of $1.44 per share for the last quarter, missing analysts' expectations by $0.02, while revenue increased by 9.6% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.0%.

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 12.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,445 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,121 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $38,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.28 on Friday, hitting $148.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,311,833 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,144,757. The stock has a market cap of $41.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $145.48 and a 200 day moving average of $147.27.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on YUM shares. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Melius initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,958 shares of company stock worth $1,455,725. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.