Aviva PLC Has $22.74 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Aviva PLC cut its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 43.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 169,489 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 130,685 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned approximately 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $22,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.70.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 8.6 %

YUM stock opened at $147.52 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $150.15 and its 200-day moving average is $139.52.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. 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 payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % 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 worth $7,952,685 in the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.