New York Life Investment Management LLC Sells 833 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 41,455 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 833 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $228,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $199,511,000 after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $156.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $136.39 and a 200-day moving average of $135.62. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $156.56.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given 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 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.32.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.