Sherman Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 832 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $112,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after acquiring an additional 51,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.32.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was 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 through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $156.43 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $156.56. The company has a market capitalization of $43.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $136.39 and a 200-day moving average of $135.60.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

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.