Advisors Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,093 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 34.1% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,681,933 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $233,200,000 after purchasing an additional 427,487 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $199,511,000 after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 purchasing an additional 58,437 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $134.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $134.42 and a 200 day moving average of $134.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its 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). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.94.

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.