CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 7,638 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 33.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,510 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 7,638 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 57,276 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,002,000 after purchasing an additional 3,609 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $713,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 11.6% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 64,126 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $8,959,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,433 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, WealthBridge Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $131.35. The company had a trading volume of 2,177,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,996,058. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $132.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $36.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.09%.

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.