Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Position Lowered by Wesleyan Assurance Society

Wesleyan Assurance Society decreased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,920 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 6,180 shares during the period. Wesleyan Assurance Society's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,428,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total value of $1,028,160.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $149.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $149.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.17.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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