Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Cuts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 56.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,375 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 3,042 shares during the period. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. 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 note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.79.

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Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM traded down $1.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $156.75. 3,071,625 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,887,430. The business's 50 day moving average is $143.99 and its 200-day moving average is $137.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

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.