3,071 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Purchased by Hall Capital Management Co. Inc.

Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,071 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total value of $1,028,160.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. The trade was a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $143.96. 717,867 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,006,001. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company's 50 day moving average price is $147.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.02 billion, a PE ratio of 27.59, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

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 predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share 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 given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. 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 research note on Thursday, May 1st. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands 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.