ICW Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,265 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 698 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $228,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $925,000. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,759 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $156.75 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $43.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $143.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.88. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.