Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Everence Capital Management Inc.

Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 131.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $315,239,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 75,766.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,640,982 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $210,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638,819 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 121.8% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $227,367,000 after acquiring an additional 999,443 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,507,237 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $652,773,000 after acquiring an additional 901,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,257,809 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $417,260,000 after acquiring an additional 698,493 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $137.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,483,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,939,482. 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 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.24. The company has a market capitalization of $38.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a boost 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 (DPR) is 47.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer upgraded 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a "hold" rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.