Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,088 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,805,000 after buying an additional 17,133 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,825,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Finally, DJE Kapital AG purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $3,306,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock worth $7,659,176. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.95.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $153.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.91. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

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.