Insider Selling: Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Insider Sells 597 Shares of Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $159.81 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $161.28. The company has a market capitalization of $44.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.61, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.21.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on YUM. 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 note on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.65.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $43,944,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $95,000. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $475,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,384 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.