Graney & King LLC Invests $116,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $116,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.4% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 109,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $15,358,000 after purchasing an additional 11,207 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 153,431 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,436,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,782 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,497,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $155.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $145.25 and its 200 day moving average is $138.18. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $43.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. 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 dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Company 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.