Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $892,000. West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $571,000. Finally, Freestone Capital Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $218,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on YUM. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $162.67 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $45.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.38.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.41%.

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.