Pacific Point Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Pacific Point Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM traded down $0.51 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $143.59. 413,880 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,004,851. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The business's 50 day moving average is $148.41 and its 200-day moving average is $142.57. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on YUM shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

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.