HM Payson & Co. Purchases 628 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

HM Payson & Co. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 51.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,853 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 628 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,712,000 after buying an additional 255,495 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,098,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $162.67 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $138.84 and its 200 day moving average is $136.37.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued 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 was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five 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 $150.42.

Yum! Brands 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.