Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,892 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised 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 worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 649.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of YUM opened at $147.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $133.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $149.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

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.