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

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 302 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $393,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $418,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $121,137,000 after acquiring an additional 764,637 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after acquiring an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,944,000. Finally, Man Group plc grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 602.1% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 364,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,946,000 after acquiring an additional 312,871 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. This trade represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $145.03 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $145.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.74.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.86.

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.