Xponance Inc. Sells 5,689 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Xponance Inc. reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,742 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,689 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 11,865 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,550,000 after buying an additional 2,327 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 71.1% in the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 6,160 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 2,560 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 139,896 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,279,000 after buying an additional 50,499 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 131.5% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 11,019 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $138.50 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.24. The stock has a market cap of $38.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $137.22 and its 200 day moving average is $130.17.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued 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). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

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

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.