Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,785 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 792 shares during the quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. increased 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 purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $147.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $41.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $151.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.71.

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 dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.81.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. The trade was a 3.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.