Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 437,848 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,319 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $58,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.70.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 8.6 %

YUM opened at $147.52 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $150.15 and its 200-day moving average is $139.52. The stock has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 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.