Auxier Asset Management Sells 525 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Auxier Asset Management trimmed its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,845 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 525 shares during the quarter. Auxier Asset Management’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $225,025,000 after acquiring an additional 44,428 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $145.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $148.93 and a 200 day moving average of $142.41.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.70.

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.