Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Sells 2,790 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI cut its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 20.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,675 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,790 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Investment Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 24,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on YUM. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.5 %

YUM opened at $154.41 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $140.18 and its 200-day moving average is $136.79. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.58, a PEG 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 paid a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.