Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 244,264 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $306,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 35,519 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,962,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $994,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after purchasing an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.24.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $145.74 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $151.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.