Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Makes New $209,000 Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,555 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM traded down $2.81 on Friday, hitting $124.93. 872,313 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,805,429. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $124.68 and a one year high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $34.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.90.

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 negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock worth $2,424,167 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.61.

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.