Signaturefd LLC Has $919,000 Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Signaturefd LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,036 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 406 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,156,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,439 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $139.06 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $137.38 and its 200-day moving average is $130.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 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 the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 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 paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a boost 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 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.