Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,989 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 12,472 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in 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 raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the 3rd 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 lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th 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 period. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,306,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings 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 period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business'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 transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % 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 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 8.6 %

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $13.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $147.52. 4,704,337 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,969,178. The stock has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $150.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.46. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $151.70.

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.