Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,116 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 145.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,296 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 16,782 shares during the last quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $250,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 153.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.4 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $157.23 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. 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%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $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 90 days, insiders have sold 44,839 shares of company stock valued at $7,136,292. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.