CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 27.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. 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 MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $128.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $132.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.51. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $35.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company 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. 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 2.09%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.