Avanza Fonder AB Purchases New Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 22,095 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $2,964,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of YUM traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $125.31. 1,604,917 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,476,485. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $34.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.11. The company's fifty day moving average price is $133.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.60.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Argus raised Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $146.24.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

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.