Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $281,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 947.1% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 19,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,648,000 after purchasing an additional 17,852 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 121,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,360,000 after buying an additional 6,042 shares during the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $416,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 50,273 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,745,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

YUM opened at $157.58 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.98 billion, a PE ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $142.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.53.

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 issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction 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 approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % 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 worth $7,952,685 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.95.

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.