Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,625,301 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 76,498 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Yum! Brands worth $4,511,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 109,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $15,358,000 after purchasing an additional 11,207 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in 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 period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 43.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,782 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $155.82 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The business has a fifty day moving average of $144.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $138.03. The stock has a market cap of $43.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Securities lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.