Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC decreased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,038 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,098,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 749,895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $95,792,000 after acquiring an additional 144,406 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $155.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $144.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value 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 $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 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.