Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Decreases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,976,025 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 127,023 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 1.42% of Yum! Brands worth $555,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 416 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.3% in the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,045 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.4% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,846 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.2% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 448,759 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $62,220,000 after buying an additional 5,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,355 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,711,000 after buying an additional 2,094 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve investment 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $145.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 155,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. This trade represents a 4.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded up $1.78 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $137.05. The company had a trading volume of 3,586,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,943,331. The firm has a market cap of $38.25 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $134.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.47. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.09%.

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.