Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells $979,382.86 in Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $137.84 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YUM. RB Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.7% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 761,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,024 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $664,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Company 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.