YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 1,041 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,661 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,041 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $338,296,000 after buying an additional 24,681 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE YUM opened at $141.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $145.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.42. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total transaction of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $158.24.

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.