Czech National Bank Acquires 3,589 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,098 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 3,589 shares during the period. Czech National Bank's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $10,086,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $3,306,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 54.2% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 140,412 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $18,838,000 after acquiring an additional 49,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $225,025,000 after purchasing an additional 44,428 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,763 shares of company stock worth $2,637,564. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. UBS Group raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $157.30.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.9%

YUM stock traded down $1.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $142.78. The company had a trading volume of 1,247,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,015,055. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.87. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.35, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

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.