LPL Financial LLC Sells 28,803 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

LPL Financial LLC cut its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 13.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 185,676 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 28,803 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.07% of Yum! Brands worth $24,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew 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. 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 during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $3,306,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $1.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $158.96. 1,573,823 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,957,350. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.85. The stock has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction of $816,392.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is 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.