Larson Financial Group LLC Reduces Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Larson Financial Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,668 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 114 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.42.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $162.67 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $138.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. 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 currently 54.41%.

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.