Wesleyan Assurance Society Has $6.43 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wesleyan Assurance Society reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 6,180 shares during the period. Wesleyan Assurance Society’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $564,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 6,212 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $833,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $256,000. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 130,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,549,000 after buying an additional 3,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scissortail Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 33,833.3% during the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,036 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 2,030 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,984,484.01. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $149.75 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $149.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.17. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

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.