PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 244,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,734 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Yum! Brands worth $36,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 124.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after acquiring an additional 83,916 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.0% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,447,000 after acquiring an additional 10,755 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 59.1% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $40,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 2,890 shares of company stock valued at $451,123 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $154.47 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39. The company has a market capitalization of $42.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.46.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.