Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by USS Investment Management Ltd

USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,498,463 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 7,667 shares during the period. Yum! Brands accounts for approximately 1.5% of USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. USS Investment Management Ltd owned approximately 0.54% of Yum! Brands worth $201,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the fourth 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. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during 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. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.70.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $149.75 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $149.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.17.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

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