Infusive Asset Management Inc. Sells 23,673 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Infusive Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 54.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,746 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 23,673 shares during the period. Infusive Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $1.09 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $146.14. The stock had a trading volume of 848,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,017,863. The business has a 50-day moving average of $152.00 and a 200-day moving average of $140.27. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

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 was Friday, February 21st. 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 1.94%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. Guggenheim raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.62.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.