True North Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

True North Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Centennial Bank AR grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 1,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,307,396.90. The trade was a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $126.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.22 billion, a PE ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.60.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. Bank of America decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Company 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.