Eukles Asset Management Acquires 118 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Eukles Asset Management lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,545 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Yum! Brands makes up about 1.3% of Eukles Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Eukles Asset Management’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $315,239,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 75,766.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,640,982 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $210,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,638,819 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 121.8% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $227,367,000 after purchasing an additional 999,443 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,507,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $652,773,000 after purchasing an additional 901,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,257,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $417,260,000 after purchasing an additional 698,493 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on YUM. 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Ten 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $138.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 629,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,925,019. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.06 and a 200 day moving average of $130.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.