Sowell Financial Services LLC Invests $939,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,970 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $939,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $3,306,000. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4%

YUM stock traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $138.98. 2,956,501 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,002,795. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $145.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.35. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $38.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $158.24.

About Yum! Brands

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.