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

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) 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 transaction of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $137.83 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $136.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $130.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.80 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on YUM. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,058,156,000 after buying an additional 373,232 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,914,257,000 after purchasing an additional 678,659 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,947,399 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $784,673,000 after purchasing an additional 90,152 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $720,485,000 after purchasing an additional 210,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,365,517 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $517,792,000 after purchasing an additional 67,468 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.