2,274 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Acquired by Cullen Investment Group LTD.

Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,274 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 210,238 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 901,181 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 67,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 124,080 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $137.67 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $136.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.88. The firm has a market cap of $38.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

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.