Wealthfront Advisers LLC Decreases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC trimmed its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,533 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after purchasing an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $225,025,000 after acquiring an additional 44,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of YUM opened at $153.50 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $140.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.91.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

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.