Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 481 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,247 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $158.13 on Thursday. 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 $44.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.16.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.41%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.