Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by TD Private Client Wealth LLC

TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 18.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position 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 last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $155.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $144.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.03. The stock has a market cap of $43.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 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.