Sei Investments Co. Buys 36,293 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 183,121 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 36,293 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.07% of Yum! Brands worth $24,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,497,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 427,778 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $59,855,000 after acquiring an additional 18,092 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $117,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 16,779 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now 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. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $158.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $44.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.37, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $145.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.32. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

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.