Insider Selling: Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells 5,293 Shares of Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $157.20. The company had a trading volume of 397,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,883,232. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $141.55 and its 200-day moving average is $137.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during 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 during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Company 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.