Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 2,757 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 19.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,068 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,757 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,526 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $614,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 227.5% during the 4th quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 109,300 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $157.86.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.0%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.12 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $145.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.49. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $40.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.74.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

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.

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