FORA Capital LLC Trims Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

FORA Capital LLC decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 38,126 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,755 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of YUM stock traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $139.43. The stock had a trading volume of 57,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,934,507. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.70 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $38.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $134.63 and its 200-day moving average is $134.47.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

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.