Ballentine Partners LLC Has $952,000 Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Ballentine Partners LLC trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 215 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $952,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total value of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $126.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.22 billion, a PE ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $133.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.60.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

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.