Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,247 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,060,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $158.13 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $44.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $149.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.16.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

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.