Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Parallel Advisors LLC

Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,011 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Finally, DJE Kapital AG acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,306,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. This 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 through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $157.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $143.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

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.