Fox Run Management L.L.C. Purchases New Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 8,206 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,101,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered 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. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.7 %

YUM traded down $1.06 on Thursday, hitting $157.62. 2,500,777 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,889,232. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $145.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.32. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $43.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

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.