Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Acquires 661 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,637 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,022,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,607,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,883 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $200,668,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after buying an additional 1,362,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 36.6% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $301,498,000 after acquiring an additional 582,267 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $137.21. 1,727,132 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,741,598. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.60 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $38.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $134.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.81.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,414.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,414.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,622 shares of company stock worth $4,172,740 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.