Everence Capital Management Inc. Buys 7,100 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 131.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% during the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $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 worth $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $138.04 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.97. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.24. The firm has a market cap of $38.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

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.