Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) COO Tracy Skeans Sells 24,332 Shares

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) COO Tracy Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $149.12. 716,596 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,090,652. The company has a market capitalization of $41.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.29. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $602,551,000. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $133,251,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $126,945,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,382,000 after buying an additional 713,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 115.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $197,013,000 after buying an additional 703,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.38.

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.