Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 1,889 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,889 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 45.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,179 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,850 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its position in Yum! Brands by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Southland Equity Partners LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $753,000 after buying an additional 1,169 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $130.48 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $132.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.53. The firm has a market cap of $36.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.