Shell Asset Management Co. Sells 195 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Shell Asset Management Co. decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 195 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of YUM. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $147.74 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $149.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.05.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.