Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 224,346 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $30,098,000. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Yum! Brands as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $792,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 2,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $153.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.96 billion, a PE ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $155.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $135.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.47.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.