Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Buys 130 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the third quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.37.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $148.51 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $151.29. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $134.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.04. The firm 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.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.