AA Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 439 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

AA Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 28.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,971 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. AA Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 2,150 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $100,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 154,104 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,675,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $240,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set 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 reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $130.67 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $132.76 and a 200-day moving average of $133.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total value of $959,600.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This trade represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.