Townsquare Capital LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,982 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 3,203 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $42,000. Bard Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at about $713,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 128.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 9,128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 5,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 54.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 47,604 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $6,651,000 after acquiring an additional 16,767 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $152.71.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $2.24 during trading on Monday, hitting $141.08. The company had a trading volume of 171,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,015,991. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

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.