Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 76,498 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,625,301 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,498 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.05% of Yum! Brands worth $4,511,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Yum! Brands by 10.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 109,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $15,358,000 after purchasing an additional 11,207 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 153,431 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,436,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,782 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

YUM stock opened at $155.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $144.62 and a 200 day moving average of $138.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

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.