Blue Fin Capital Inc. Sells 86 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Blue Fin Capital Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 86 shares during the period. Blue Fin Capital Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $59,289,000. Finally, Man Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 602.1% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 364,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,946,000 after buying an additional 312,871 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $146.35 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.24. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.