Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,245 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 969 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Summit Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 3,065 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 20,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after acquiring an additional 4,998 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,784 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,459,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,107,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $148,534,000 after purchasing an additional 4,045 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $158.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Company 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.