Key Financial Inc Lowers Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Financial Inc lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 35.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,092 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,235 shares during the quarter. Key Financial Inc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during 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 during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 649.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the period. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered 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 research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Securities lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.80 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.55. The company has a market cap of $41.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $149.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid 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 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate 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.