Cetera Investment Advisers Has $7.03 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 52,404 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 2,807 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.70.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $147.74. 1,699,718 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,998,358. The company has a market cap of $41.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.30, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's 50 day moving average is $149.93 and its 200-day moving average is $141.82. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

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.