Cetera Trust Company N.A Purchases New Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,206 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $158,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,000 after buying an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 28,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,681,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $205,000. Finally, abrdn plc increased its position in Yum! Brands by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 117,966 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $15,413,000 after buying an additional 47,875 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $139.06 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on YUM. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

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.