HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Raises Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 97.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,655 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,729 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 160,790 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,572,000 after purchasing an additional 29,932 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 3,065 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 20,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after buying an additional 4,998 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,784 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,459,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $157.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $43.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.08, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was 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 owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

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.