Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.7 %

YUM stock opened at $159.53 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.04. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $161.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.