Whittier Trust Co. Purchases 249 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,163 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $827,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $156.75 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $143.99 and a 200-day moving average of $137.85.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase 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 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.