Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 63,491 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,113 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 2,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen 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.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.32.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $158.65 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $164.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $137.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. 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. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

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.