David W. Gibbs Sells 7,078 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE YUM traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $138.04. The company had a trading volume of 1,950,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,945,097. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.75 and a 200 day moving average of $129.97. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 47.94%.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 59.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $69,596,000 after purchasing an additional 198,069 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,752,000 after buying an additional 16,124 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $381,000. Finally, Adviser Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 13.8% during the third quarter. Adviser Investments LLC now owns 1,710 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $154.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 5th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Company 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.