Burney Co. Grows Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Burney Co. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,675 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 810 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after buying an additional 6,537 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after buying an additional 51,690 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 930,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $123,243,000 after buying an additional 58,437 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of YUM opened at $126.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $35.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average is $134.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.68. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $143.20.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. Citigroup restated 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, January 10th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.