Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 145.8% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,296 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after buying an additional 16,782 shares in the last quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $250,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 153.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 44,839 shares of company stock valued at $7,136,292. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup restated 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $157.23 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $141.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.23. The firm has a market cap of $43.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Yum! Brands’s dividend 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.