Pavion Blue Capital LLC Sells 208 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Pavion Blue Capital LLC trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,657 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 208 shares during the period. Yum! Brands accounts for approximately 2.4% of Pavion Blue Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Pavion Blue Capital LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after acquiring an additional 51,690 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 696,714 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $93,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,083 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $148.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $151.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.37.

About Yum! Brands

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.