Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Grows Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,081 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the second 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 last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,307,396.90. This trade represents a 4.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 17,879 shares of company stock valued at $2,424,167 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $127.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $135.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $124.76 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.78.

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.