Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Sells 4,463 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 102,428 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,463 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $13,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $225,025,000 after purchasing an additional 44,428 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE YUM opened at $155.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $147.14 and its 200 day moving average is $138.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.