Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $149.30 and last traded at $147.34, with a volume of 1970781 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $148.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued 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. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.9 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $133.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. 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. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,805,000 after buying an additional 17,133 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $1,262,000. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after buying an additional 20,966 shares during the period. Finally, Infusive Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 15.1% during the third quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,066,000 after buying an additional 5,684 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.