Bessemer Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bessemer Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 61,503 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,386 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 35,519 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,962,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $994,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $713,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $152.71.

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Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of YUM stock traded down $1.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $144.85. 2,599,293 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,021,482. The stock has a market cap of $40.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.08.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total transaction of $753,891.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company 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.