Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Sells 237 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 20.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 237 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,947,399 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $784,673,000 after purchasing an additional 90,152 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its position in Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $720,485,000 after buying an additional 210,238 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Yum! Brands by 19.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,507,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $652,773,000 after buying an additional 901,181 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,365,517 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $517,792,000 after buying an additional 67,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,278,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $409,596,000 after buying an additional 124,080 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $137.67 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $136.53 and a 200-day moving average of $129.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.94%.

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.