FourThought Financial Partners LLC Makes New $1.87 Million Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 13,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 227.5% during the fourth quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,232 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 2,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $150.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $151.29. The company has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.75, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Yum! Brands’s 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.