Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,998 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of YUM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,445,000 after purchasing an additional 178,612 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after acquiring an additional 147,180 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the period. Finally, Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 80.9% during the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 156,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,865,000 after acquiring an additional 70,000 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $127.07 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.