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

RFG Advisory LLC decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,334 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% in the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upgraded Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Barclays lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,756 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.21, for a total value of $485,312.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,406,963.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,756 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.21, for a total value of $485,312.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,406,963.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,742 shares of company stock valued at $2,734,628. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.69. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.94%.

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.