Comerica Bank Sells 1,845 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Comerica Bank lowered its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,280 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,845 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. The trade was a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $2.61 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $146.53. The stock had a trading volume of 2,308,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,012,019. The company has a market cap of $40.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $151.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.18. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

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.