Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Raises Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 271,785 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 17,222 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.10% of Yum! Brands worth $36,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $418,692,000. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,712,000 after buying an additional 255,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $30,098,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’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 value of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $155.72 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $43.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $147.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.69.

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 issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

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.