Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. Sells 178 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. cut its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,910 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth 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 raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,825,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $225,025,000 after acquiring an additional 44,428 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of YUM opened at $147.54 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target 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 boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.