12,585 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Purchased by Allianz SE

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,585 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,680,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on YUM. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock traded up $2.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $160.47. 957,311 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,142,763. The firm's 50 day moving average is $149.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.16. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $44.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

About Yum! Brands

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.