Insider Selling: Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells $4,880,113.84 in Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction 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 approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE YUM opened at $162.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $138.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.38. 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 paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on YUM. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,289,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,944,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.