Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Barclays raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $148.51 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $151.29. The company has a market capitalization of $41.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $134.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.04.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

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.