Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stock Position Lowered by Cumberland Partners Ltd

Cumberland Partners Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 860 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,042,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $140.10. The company had a trading volume of 2,140,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,936,988. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.24. The firm has a market cap of $39.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $137.56 and a 200 day moving average of $130.54.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results 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). The company 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.94%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 90 days, insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on 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, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.75.

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.