Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Graypoint LLC

Graypoint LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.61.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This 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 through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,879 shares of company stock valued at $2,424,167. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $123.43 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $123.19 and a one year high of $143.20. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Yum! Brands 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.