Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Hancock Whitney Corp

Hancock Whitney Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 137 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 24.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,022,648,000 after acquiring an additional 5,607,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.7% during 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $331,831,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $200,668,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $0.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $133.77. 761,462 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,966,439. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $132.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.95. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $37.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 27,089 shares of company stock worth $3,693,505. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.