TIAA Trust National Association Cuts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

TIAA Trust National Association lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $157.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.46.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer increased 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, 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. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.