Cadent Capital Advisors LLC Has $3.32 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cadent Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,730 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Yum! Brands comprises approximately 1.1% of Cadent Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.24.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM traded up $0.76 on Monday, reaching $124.01. 922,238 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,918,132. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.86. 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.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,879 shares of company stock worth $2,424,167. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.