Lbp Am Sa Trims Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Lbp Am Sa reduced its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,881 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 944 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in 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 buying an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,712,000 after buying an additional 255,495 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,098,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 749,895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $95,792,000 after buying an additional 144,406 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, January 10th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $155.09 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $43.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $141.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.07.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.