David W. Gibbs Sells 5,293 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $157.58 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $59,289,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $43,944,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given 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.

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.