RD Lewis Holdings Inc. Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

RD Lewis Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.4 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $157.23 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.23.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,839 shares of company stock worth $7,136,292. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.