Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $225,025,000 after purchasing an additional 44,428 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.4 %

YUM opened at $157.23 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The business’s 50 day moving average is $141.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.23. The firm has a market cap of $43.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,839 shares of company stock worth $7,136,292 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.95.

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.