Wesbanco Bank Inc. Has $527,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm 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 SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,645,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,262,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after buying an additional 20,966 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Bank of America reduced their target price 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. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $128.31 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $143.20. The company has a market cap 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.51.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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