Occidental Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Occidental Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 24.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 952 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after buying an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,645,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 140.1% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,763,000 after purchasing an additional 73,844 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $984,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $126.20 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $35.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $134.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $133.68.

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). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.24.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % 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. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.