Synovus Financial Corp Decreases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Synovus Financial Corp decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 805 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Bard Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $713,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 128.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 9,128 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 5,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 54.4% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 47,604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,651,000 after purchasing an additional 16,767 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $144.97 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $152.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.77, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YUM. UBS Group upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company 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.