Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 215 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Ballentine Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the third 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 grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% during 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 period. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Bank AR raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 1,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $126.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $35.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.60.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its 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). The company 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%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current 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 $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.89.

Yum! Brands 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.