Koshinski Asset Management Inc. Has $515,000 Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $315,239,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 75,766.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,640,982 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $210,177,000 after buying an additional 1,638,819 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 121.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $227,367,000 after buying an additional 999,443 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,507,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $652,773,000 after buying an additional 901,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,257,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,260,000 after buying an additional 698,493 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $137.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a PE ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $136.30 and its 200-day moving average is $129.78. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Oppenheimer raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,742 shares of company stock worth $2,734,628 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.