Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Increases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 47.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,232 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,445,000 after acquiring an additional 178,612 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after acquiring an additional 147,180 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 624.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 106,005 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,158,000 after acquiring an additional 91,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 80.9% during the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 156,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,865,000 after acquiring an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE YUM opened at $154.33 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $154.79. The stock has a market cap of $43.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $135.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.23.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

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.