Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 1,235 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,235 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $712,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 19,737.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,587 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,579 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 71,638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,489,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 29.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 47,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,309,000 after buying an additional 10,788 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock valued at $2,424,167. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM traded up $0.78 on Monday, reaching $124.03. 2,120,478 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,098,185. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $34.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $134.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.86.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.24.

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.