Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Invests $201,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,537 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% in the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $40,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $138.50 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.22. The firm has a market cap of $38.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

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.