Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 28,112 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 49.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 84,609 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 28,112 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 22,079 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,828,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,607 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,439 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.80 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $136.30 and a 200 day moving average of $129.78. The firm has a market cap of $38.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,742 shares of company stock worth $2,734,628. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.