one8zero8 LLC Purchases Shares of 8,592 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

one8zero8 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,592 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Choate Investment Advisors boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 8,842 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 3,970 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $322,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 102,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,722,000 after acquiring an additional 2,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on YUM. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $155.09 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $43.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $141.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.07.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176 in the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.