Insider Selling: Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells 30,604 Shares of Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock traded up $3.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $162.67. 3,411,259 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,907,678. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $45.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company's fifty day moving average is $138.84 and its 200-day moving average is $136.39.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th 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 grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $150.42.

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.