International Assets Investment Management LLC Sells 146,247 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

International Assets Investment Management LLC cut its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 98.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,973 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 146,247 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.24.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock worth $2,424,167 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 3.4 %

YUM opened at $123.43 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $134.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.86. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.19 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

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.