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

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC cut its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $155.72 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.61. The company has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % 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 valued at $7,952,685 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently 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.