RFG Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 222.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,146 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,932 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 70.8% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,853 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 4,499 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,645,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 996.1% in the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 20,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 18,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $128.31 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $35.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $132.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other 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 transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was 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. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

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.