Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 656,791 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 49,556 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.24% of Yum! Brands worth $88,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after buying an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,306,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % 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 worth $7,952,685 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $157.04 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $43.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $147.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.85.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 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.