Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Acquires 138 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,150 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 138 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of YUM. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,559,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 23,256 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth approximately $6,156,000. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 57,276 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,002,000 after purchasing an additional 3,609 shares during the period. Finally, Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 17.6% in the third quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 8,512 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of YUM opened at $130.48 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $36.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $132.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.53.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.89.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % 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. Company 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.