GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,125 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $931,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $331,831,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,914,257,000 after buying an additional 678,659 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,254,446 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $163,906,000 after buying an additional 649,922 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $208,045,000 after buying an additional 570,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 129.5% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 769,543 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $96,147,000 after buying an additional 434,284 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $1.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $136.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,418,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,524,531. The company has a market cap of $38.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.08. The business's 50 day moving average price is $138.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.50. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 47.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at $23,160,066.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 26,454 shares of company stock worth $3,656,748. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim increased 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $144.33.

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.