SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Buys 1,570 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 665.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $228,127,000 after buying an additional 6,537 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $158.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $137.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.88. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $164.08. The firm has a market cap of $44.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.32.

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.