Confident Yum hikes its dividend again

Article Excerpt

YUM! BRANDS INC. $72 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 446.2 million; Market cap: $32.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.yum.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 10.4%, to $0.37 a share from $0.335. The new annual rate of $1.48 yields 2.1%. This was the ninth annual increase since Yum began paying dividends in 2004. The stock has held up well, even though sales at its Chinese KFC outlets continue to suffer in the wake of false allegations that they bought chicken with higher-than-permitted levels of antibiotics. Yum is responding with an advertising campaign to emphasize the quality of its ingredients. It feels this will spur its Chinese sales. Yum Brands is still a buy. buy…