2,096 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Acquired by Blueshift Asset Management LLC

Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,096 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake 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 valued at $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,306,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $156.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $143.99 and a 200 day moving average of $137.82. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

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.