M&T Bank Corp Trims Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

M&T Bank Corp lowered its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,358 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,024 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $12,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $418,692,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $338,296,000 after buying an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $306,444,000 after buying an additional 244,264 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $2.54 on Friday, hitting $149.81. 1,757,969 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,996,188. The firm's 50-day moving average is $145.87 and its 200 day moving average is $144.54. The company has a market capitalization of $41.64 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 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.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 $22,984,484.01. The trade was a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,742 shares of company stock valued at $1,861,504 over the last three months. 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.