Chancellor Financial Group WB LP Invests $525,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,912 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $7,215,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,850 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 45.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,179 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $253,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of YUM stock traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $143.82. 3,184,350 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,017,414. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $147.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.62. The company has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.