Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,947 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 193 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,262,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966 shares during the period. Infusive Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 15.1% in the third quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,066,000 after acquiring an additional 5,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 222.8% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 7,146 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

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 directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE YUM opened at $131.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $36.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.59, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

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.