Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Invests $206,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,596,000 after purchasing an additional 198,069 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,752,000 after buying an additional 16,124 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $381,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.9% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 66,364 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,671,000 after acquiring an additional 38,818 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Citigroup cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.75.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 4.2 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $135.33 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.40. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.24. The firm has a market cap of $38.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction 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 the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.