Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells $39,997.80 in Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,522,735.48. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Christopher Lee Turner also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, May 1st, Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $40,120.00.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $148.16. The company had a trading volume of 2,486,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,814,886. The company has a market capitalization of $40.84 billion, a PE ratio of 23.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $156.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.66. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $180.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.89.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.