Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 447,178 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,936 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.16% of Yum! Brands worth $59,671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,712,000 after purchasing an additional 255,495 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,098,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 749,895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $95,792,000 after buying an additional 144,406 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. TD Securities increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $155.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.61.

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 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 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.