Capital International Sarl Has $16 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Capital International Sarl lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 5,583 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $15,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on YUM. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.71.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $143.13 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.95 billion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $152.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.15.

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.