World Investment Advisors Invests $443,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

World Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,816 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $32,000. 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 worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $157.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $22,984,484.01. This trade represents 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 12,742 shares of company stock worth $1,861,504 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.7%

YUM stock traded down $2.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $149.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,757,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,997,680. The company has a market capitalization of $41.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.64.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 56.57%.

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.