Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Decreases Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. trimmed its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 207 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $225,025,000 after purchasing an additional 44,428 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 749,895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $95,792,000 after purchasing an additional 144,406 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Securities lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Fifteen 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $156.75 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $43.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.82.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.