Horizon Investments LLC Has $779,000 Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $725,000. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $287,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,011 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 44,122 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,919,000 after buying an additional 5,906 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $157.58 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $142.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.53. The firm has a market cap of $43.98 billion, a PE ratio of 30.19, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 target price (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.95.

About Yum! Brands

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.