Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Grows Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,993 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 865 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 649.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $143.49 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $144.71. The business has a fifty day moving average of $132.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $133.88.

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 given a dividend of $0.71 per share. 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 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total value of $959,600.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. 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, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.37.

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.