Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by NS Partners Ltd

NS Partners Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,173 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,214 shares during the quarter. NS Partners Ltd owned about 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $23,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 17.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 30.8% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 38,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,363,000 after purchasing an additional 9,046 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $479,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,234,000 after purchasing an additional 10,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JB Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $162.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.39.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was 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, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Fourteen 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.42.

Yum! Brands 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.