Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 315,197 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,509,533 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 315,197 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.54% of Yum! Brands worth $202,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $418,692,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $338,296,000 after acquiring an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $306,444,000 after purchasing an additional 244,264 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

YUM traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $148.96. The company had a trading volume of 569,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,008,769. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $41.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $151.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.88.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on YUM shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $155.19.

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.