Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY Lowers Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 567,997 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 13,248 shares during the quarter. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY owned approximately 0.20% of Yum! Brands worth $76,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $418,692,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $338,296,000 after buying an additional 24,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $143.82. 3,184,350 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,017,368. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $147.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.68. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, research 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 $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.