Aquatic Capital Management LLC Sells 27,765 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,035 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 27,765 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in 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. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.62.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.0 %

YUM opened at $147.54 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were 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 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.