Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Boosts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 207.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,842 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 12,713 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock traded up $1.43 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $147.59. 2,079,206 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,023,729. The company has a market cap of $41.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $151.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.39.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $152.62.

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.