Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $156.75 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $143.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.85. The stock has a market cap of $43.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.