Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $1.36 Million Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,127 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 742 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of YUM. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 649.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE YUM opened at $146.62 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $148.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $132.55 and its 200-day moving average is $134.08. The company has a market capitalization of $40.92 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 51.34%.

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.