Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Sells 394,437 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 90.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 39,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 394,437 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands accounts for 1.4% of Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $706,799,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $133,251,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $126,945,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,356,869,000 after purchasing an additional 684,946 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE YUM opened at $154.23 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $154.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $169.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at $485,695.20. This trade represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $186.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.12.

Yum! Brands 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.