Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Position Increased by Choate Investment Advisors

Choate Investment Advisors lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,842 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 113 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,839 shares of company stock worth $7,136,292. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $155.09 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $141.01 and its 200-day moving average is $137.08.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

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.