Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Has $1.12 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 260 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after acquiring an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,262,000. Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after buying an additional 20,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Infusive Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,066,000 after buying an additional 5,684 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $148.51 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $151.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.45 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $134.35 and its 200 day moving average is $135.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. TD Securities increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.