Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Increases Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 82 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 2,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $147.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $133.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.52. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $149.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 51.34%.

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.