Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton

Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 159 shares during the quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $76,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the third 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 increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third 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 raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% during 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. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $124.58 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $134.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $34.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.24.

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.