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

Xponance Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,742 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,689 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% during the 4th quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on YUM. Guggenheim upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $138.50 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.17. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.24. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.94%.

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.