Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 645 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, DB Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. 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 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.53.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

YUM stock opened at $134.34 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $138.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.69. The company has a market capitalization of $37.82 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.67 EPS for the current year.

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.