Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Reduces Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of YUM opened at $156.75 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $143.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.85. The company has a market cap of $43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

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 paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.