Insider Selling: Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells 7,117 Shares of Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM traded up $1.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $149.26. The stock had a trading volume of 515,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,983,600. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $41.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.74. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $145.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.96.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at about $14,827,000. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the second quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 14,982 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 37.6% during the 2nd quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 26,711 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,296 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,095 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Presper Financial Architects LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $159.86.

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.