Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 1,290 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,022,648,000 after buying an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,512,561,000 after buying an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,033,906,000 after buying an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,939,663 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $823,534,000 after buying an additional 121,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after buying an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.44.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,414.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,414.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,622 shares of company stock valued at $4,172,740 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $134.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $134.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.81. The stock has a market cap of $37.88 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.60 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.08%.

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.