Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,959 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $155.72 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $147.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.61. The firm has a market cap of $43.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.41%.

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.