Dividend.com: El Paso Selling Assets

Yum Brands Gets an Analyst Boost

Yum Brands(YUM Quote) shares are up today after Argus Research upgraded the shares to a buy and a $37 price target.

The analyst believes the company will have better operating margins as it should benefit from lower commodity prices as well as further China growth.

We have avoided shares of Yum since our early June coverage began, when the stock was trading at $37.89. The company has a 2.01% dividend yield, based on last night's closing stock price of $29.91. The company does have technical support in the $20 to $22 area if shares hit any bumps in the road. The company does have initial overhead resistance in the $33 to $35 area. We prefer a stock like McDonald's(MCD Quote) in the fast-food sector.

Yum Brands is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com Rating of 2.9 out of 5 stars.

Huntsman Gets the Last of the $1 Billion Settlement

Huntsman(HUN Quote) announced it has received the final $425 million payment from affiliates of Apollo Management LP as part of its settlement for its failed merger with Apollo's Hexion Specialty Chemicals.

With today's payment, the settlement for $1 billion has been reached. The company had received a termination fee of $325 million on Dec. 19 and a further $250 million four days later for 10-year convertible notes.

The shares of Huntsman have not been able to recover since the drubbing, following the announcement of the settlement. We were still not sure why the company did not go through the trial that was set, as it had been winning several pretrial judgments. We would follow the market's lead here and avoid the shares until we see any sense that buyers feel like coming back.