Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,998 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 179 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,439 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 worth $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Guggenheim raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten 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, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.75.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $140.10 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.24. The company has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.54.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

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.