Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Sells 11,809 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,927 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 11,809 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. owned about 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $23,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during 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 buying an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $225,025,000 after purchasing an additional 44,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.62.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $146.12. 788,687 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,017,678. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $40.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $152.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.27.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

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.