Wealthspire Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 601 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,805,000 after acquiring an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,825,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Infusive Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,066,000 after acquiring an additional 5,684 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 2.7 %

YUM stock opened at $154.33 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $43.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.23. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $154.79.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

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.