Ascent Group LLC Has $263,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Ascent Group LLC reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 14.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,879 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 306 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after buying an additional 6,537 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after buying an additional 51,690 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 930,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $123,243,000 after buying an additional 58,437 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $138.16 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $135.50 and a 200-day moving average of $134.49. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.70 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on YUM. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is 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.