King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 7,962 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 51.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 7,962 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This trade represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 5,364 shares of company stock valued at $827,837 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $147.96 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.63. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 48.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $186.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays set a $185.00 target price on Yum! Brands and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.89.

About Yum! Brands

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.