Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,537 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.58% of Yum! Brands worth $228,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,645,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.1% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,763,000 after purchasing an additional 73,844 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 18.2% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,730,000 after purchasing an additional 7,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $984,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America reduced 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 note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE YUM opened at $135.27 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.70 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.49. The stock has a market cap of $37.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The firm 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%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at $20,955,351.69. This represents a 4.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. 0.31% 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.