Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,292,610 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 62,757 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.82% of Yum! Brands worth $360,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.86.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE YUM opened at $150.00 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.20. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $41.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 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 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total value of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,742 shares of company stock worth $1,861,504. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.

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