diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py
index cddc827b51..275032ee08 100755
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ def replace(args):
 
 def getKeyValue(content, key):
     pieces = key.split(".", 1)
-    if len(pieces) > 1:
+    if len(pieces) > 1 and pieces[0] in content:
         return getKeyValue(content[pieces[0]], pieces[1])
     return content.get(key, None)
 
diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml_test.py b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml_test.py
index ca9839e02f..5ca46cb68c 100644
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml_test.py
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml_test.py
@@ -416,6 +416,17 @@ def test_get_missing(self):
             self.assertEqual(result, 2)
             self.assertEqual("", mock_stdout.getvalue())
 
+    def test_get_missing_parent(self):
+        with patch('sys.stdout', new=StringIO()) as mock_stdout:
+            filename = "/tmp/so-yaml_test-get.yaml"
+            file = open(filename, "w")
+            file.write("{key1: { child1: 123, child2: { deep1: 45 } }, key2: false, key3: [e,f,g]}")
+            file.close()
+
+            result = soyaml.get([filename, "key1.child3.deep3"])
+            self.assertEqual(result, 2)
+            self.assertEqual("", mock_stdout.getvalue())
+
     def test_get_usage(self):
         with patch('sys.exit', new=MagicMock()) as sysmock:
             with patch('sys.stderr', new=StringIO()) as mock_stderr: