Guggenheim Capital LLC Sells 12,597 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Guggenheim Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 29.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,822 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 12,597 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents 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, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.62.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM traded up $0.67 on Thursday, reaching $146.83. 506,762 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,017,141. The firm has a market cap of $40.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $151.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.31.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.