Amalgamated Bank Decreases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 55,750 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,047 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $42,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 649.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. 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. Oppenheimer upped their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $151.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $135.44 and a 200 day moving average of $135.34. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $155.18.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.