Abacus Planning Group Inc. Trims Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,633 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 87 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 23.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,561 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.5% during the third quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 4,524 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Ledyard National Bank lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 26.4% during the third quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 2,358 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $1,163,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $148.43 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $133.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.82. The company has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 51.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company 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.