FIL Ltd Acquires 2,287 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 70.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares during the period. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $306,444,000 after purchasing an additional 244,264 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $338,296,000 after buying an additional 24,681 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 437,848 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,729,000 after buying an additional 20,319 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $14,172,000. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $232,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.24.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

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

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $144.97 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $152.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.04. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a PE ratio of 27.77, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

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.