Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 107,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 8,573 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $13,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,947,399 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $784,673,000 after buying an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 holdings in shares of 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 holdings in shares of 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 holdings in shares of 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $138.50. 1,666,879 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,939,133. The company has a market capitalization of $38.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $137.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $130.17.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.