Perigon Wealth Management LLC Buys 81 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $315,239,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 75,766.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,640,982 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $210,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638,819 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Yum! Brands by 121.8% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $227,367,000 after acquiring an additional 999,443 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Yum! Brands by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,507,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $652,773,000 after acquiring an additional 901,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,257,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,260,000 after buying an additional 698,493 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer upgraded Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,756 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.21, for a total value of $485,312.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,406,963.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,756 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.21, for a total value of $485,312.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,325 shares in the company, valued at $7,406,963.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,742 shares of company stock valued at $2,734,628. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.80 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.24. The stock has a market cap of $38.79 billion, a PE ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. 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 dividend yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.94%.

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.