Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Sells 923,550 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lessened its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,579,115 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 923,550 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands comprises about 3.8% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP owned approximately 2.00% of Yum! Brands worth $748,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.5 %

YUM stock opened at $154.41 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $140.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.79. The company has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business 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 1.84%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Securities raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, December 31st. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $150.42.

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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.

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