Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,922 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $154.41 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.79. The firm has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend 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 was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 a total of 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report 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 stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

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.