Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by GTS Securities LLC

GTS Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 90.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,959 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 37,686 shares during the period. GTS Securities LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 68.8% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,045,475 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $274,421,000 after buying an additional 258,369 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $564,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 6,212 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $145.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $148.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total value of $1,028,160.91. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.70.

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.