Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 88,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 6,182 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $157.58 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $142.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.19, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.