Bryce Point Capital LLC Invests $1.51 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $158.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average is $148.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. 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 1.79%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.