Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stake Lowered by Ossiam

Ossiam decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,749 shares during the period. Ossiam’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $140.67 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $39.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $152.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.23.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 2.02%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,162,903.10. The trade was a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped 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, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.71.

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.