First Foundation Advisors Sells 514 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

First Foundation Advisors decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 514 shares during the quarter. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 35,519 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,962,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $994,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after purchasing an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $145.74 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.94. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.24.

Yum! Brands 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.