Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Acquires New Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $170,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $156.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $143.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.82.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

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.