Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Has $313,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 13.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,330 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 140.3% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,712,000 after buying an additional 255,495 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,098,000. Finally, Amundi increased its stake 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 during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This 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 through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $157.89 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.07 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.52.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

Yum! Brands 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.