HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Has $357,000 Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded 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. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE YUM opened at $155.09 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $141.01 and a 200-day moving average of $137.05. The company has a market cap of $43.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

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.