Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 167,341 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,747 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $22,450,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $418,692,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $58,712,000 after purchasing an additional 255,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $306,444,000 after buying an additional 244,264 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total transaction of $753,891.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $148.62. 236,691 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,002,212. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The stock's 50 day moving average is $151.45 and its 200 day moving average is $141.28. The company has a market cap of $41.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

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. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands 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.