Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 206,210 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,101 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $27,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,552,000 after buying an additional 850 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 85.8% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 5,201 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,401 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $78,000. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,265 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,316,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 94.9% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 3,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE YUM opened at $158.55 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays raised 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. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.