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

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $138.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $38.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $136.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $129.97.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.94%.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Yum! Brands by 59.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,596,000 after purchasing an additional 198,069 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,752,000 after acquiring an additional 16,124 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Finally, Adviser Investments LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Adviser Investments LLC now owns 1,710 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

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.