ProShare Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 42.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,552 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 30,402 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased 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. Guggenheim increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.88 on Thursday, hitting $145.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,926,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,005,482. The stock has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. 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 $149.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.