Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Reduces Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 20,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,235 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at about $39,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 17,879 shares of company stock valued at $2,424,167 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Eleven 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.24.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.6 %

Yum! Brands stock traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $124.03. The company had a trading volume of 2,120,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,098,185. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $134.85 and a 200 day moving average of $133.86. The stock has a market cap of $34.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 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.