Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by HighPoint Advisor Group LLC

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 97.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 15,655 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 7,729 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered 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 report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.70.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 8.6 %

YUM traded down $13.93 on Friday, hitting $147.52. 4,704,337 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,969,178. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $150.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.46. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.