Essex Financial Services Inc. Buys 742 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,127 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 742 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 408.2% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 747 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 14,537 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,031,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 4,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 153,431 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,436,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on YUM shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.37.

Insider Activity

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

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.0 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $146.62 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $148.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

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.