Heritage Trust Co Invests $382,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Heritage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,850 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $418,692,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $306,444,000 after acquiring an additional 244,264 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.71.

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Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was 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 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $1.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $144.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,599,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,021,482. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company's 50 day moving average price is $152.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.08. The firm has a market cap of $40.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. 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.