BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. Cuts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 505 shares during the quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus raised 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 2.1 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $162.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $138.84 and its 200 day moving average is $136.38. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $45.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend 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 currently 54.41%.

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.