3,030 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Purchased by Atomi Financial Group Inc.

Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,030 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $407,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $25,445,000 after buying an additional 178,612 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $20,708,000 after purchasing an additional 147,180 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,038,775,000 after purchasing an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 80.9% in the third quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 156,502 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $21,865,000 after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $128.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,295,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,533,544. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 50.09%.

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.