T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Sells 273,919 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,374,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 273,919 shares during the period. Yum! Brands makes up 0.9% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 3.72% of Yum! Brands worth $1,391,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased 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 worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $145.09 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $152.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.27. The company has a market cap of $40.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.79, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm 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. 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 yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.

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