Tracy L. Skeans Sells 8,638 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of YUM opened at $162.67 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.38. The stock has a market cap of $45.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Fourteen 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.