Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 794,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 41,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $106,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Finally, DJE Kapital AG acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $3,306,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.1 %

YUM stock opened at $155.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $141.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.05.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.