DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 21,143 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 614,212 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 21,143 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned approximately 0.22% of Yum! Brands worth $95,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,984,484.01. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,742 shares of company stock worth $1,861,504. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $150.86. The stock had a trading volume of 1,428,855 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,000,950. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.74. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $145.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.36. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, 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 was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a 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 note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $157.86.

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.