HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Increases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 97.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,655 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 7,729 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % 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 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $157.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $43.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $147.77 and its 200 day moving average is $138.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

About Yum! Brands

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.