Atria Investments Inc Raises Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $162.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.38. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $45.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

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 dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Fourteen 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

Yum! Brands Company 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.