Aviva PLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Aviva PLC decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 43.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 169,489 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 130,685 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned approximately 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $22,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $14,172,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,064,738 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $277,005,000 after purchasing an additional 120,434 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 47,835 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $6,418,000 after buying an additional 3,710 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,026 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $152.24.

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Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $1.00 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $144.50. The stock had a trading volume of 716,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,005,804. The business's 50 day moving average is $151.79 and its 200-day moving average is $139.94. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $40.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

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 given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm'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 owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

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.