Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by City Holding Co.

City Holding Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 137 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $199,511,000 after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 930,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $123,243,000 after purchasing an additional 58,437 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.24.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $125.31 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $34.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $133.85 and its 200-day moving average is $133.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.