Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 414,757 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 26,853 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.15% of Yum! Brands worth $54,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,046,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,156,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "hold" rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer upgraded Yum! Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $144.75.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $1.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $143.18. 2,315,454 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,939,159. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50 day moving average price is $137.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.01.

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

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.