Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 15,497 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Fifth Third Bancorp lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 219,903 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 15,497 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned about 0.08% of Yum! Brands worth $34,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth 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 increased 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 buying an additional 452,339 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $3,306,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 54.2% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 140,412 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $18,838,000 after buying an additional 49,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of YUM traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $143.88. 1,180,160 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,011,915. The company has a market cap of $39.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $145.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.26.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm 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 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The company's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $158.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This trade represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,763 shares of company stock worth $2,637,564 in the last ninety days. 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.