Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Holdings Lowered by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 25.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 213,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 72,511 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $28,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $418,692,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $338,296,000 after acquiring an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $145.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.70.

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.