Paragon Financial Partners Inc. Sells 408 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. decreased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,466 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 408 shares during the period. Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $542,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $792,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Bank AR boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 1,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $126.20 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $133.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital dropped their price target 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup reiterated 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. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.