Prudential PLC Sells 7,749 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Prudential PLC trimmed its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 57.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,665 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 7,749 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $418,692,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,064,738 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $277,005,000 after buying an additional 120,434 shares during the period. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $141.00 target price (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $152.24.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $144.97. The stock had a trading volume of 3,002,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,017,295. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $152.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.04. The stock has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a PE ratio of 27.77, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction 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. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is currently 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.