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

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 6,537 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $228,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.3% in the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 21,303 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after buying an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 3,167 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,465 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,881,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. NS Partners Ltd grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the third quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 179,387 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $341,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on YUM. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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 note on Monday, November 11th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $135.27 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.70 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $134.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.49.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

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.