IFP Advisors Inc Purchases 555 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 555 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 649.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $148.32.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $156.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.66 billion, a PE ratio of 29.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $156.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $136.39 and a 200 day moving average of $135.62.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’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 value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.