Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 129,079 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,846,946 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 129,079 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned approximately 1.38% of Yum! Brands worth $516,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.8 %

YUM opened at $158.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $44.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $145.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.32. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their position. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

About Yum! Brands

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.