3,120,839 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,120,839 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $418,692,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $683,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 15,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,130,000 after buying an additional 3,731 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,378 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,941,000 after acquiring an additional 4,517 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 447,178 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,671,000 after acquiring an additional 34,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 163,191 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,894,000 after acquiring an additional 5,827 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $155.72 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, 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 represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Yum! Brands 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.