Wesbanco Bank Inc. Purchases 290 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,926 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $128.31 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $133.06 and a 200-day moving average of $133.51.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

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.