Stonebridge Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $98,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $228,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after acquiring an additional 51,690 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 696,714 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $93,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,083 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on YUM. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $146.57 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $148.20. The company has a market capitalization of $40.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $132.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.21.

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 paid a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.