Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,784 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased 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 worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Yum! Brands Stock Down 8.6 %

Yum! Brands stock traded down $13.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $147.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,704,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,178. The company has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.46. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.70.

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.