US Bancorp DE Sells 2,629 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 106,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,629 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $14,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position 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 period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $156.80 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $158.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.73. The company has a market capitalization of $43.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.32.

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.