Threadgill Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Threadgill Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 20,776 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands comprises 1.8% of Threadgill Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Threadgill Financial LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. RB Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 9.7% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 761,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,284,000 after buying an additional 3,024 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $664,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,756 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.21, for a total value of $485,312.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,406,963.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.21, for a total value of $485,312.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,406,963.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,742 shares of company stock worth $2,734,628. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $38.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.94%.

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.