Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,725 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,725 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1,190.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% during the 4th quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was 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 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. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company cut Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $138.65 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.80. The company has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

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.