Cypress Capital Group Cuts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cypress Capital Group trimmed its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,736 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 434 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 3,470,883 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $331,831,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $200,668,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,813 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $136.00. 228,576 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,959,194. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.79. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $38.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.