Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,783 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 747 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 142,572 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,884,000 after buying an additional 6,040 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,559,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 38,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,093,000 after buying an additional 2,784 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 70.8% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,853 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,438,000 after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.0% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $127.07 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $133.26 and its 200-day moving average is $133.55. The company has a market cap of $35.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

About Yum! Brands

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.