Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc.

Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 52.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $40,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 649.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 44.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 441 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.89.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $131.35 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.67. The company has a market capitalization of $36.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

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.