Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 295,478 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 10,239 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.11% of Yum! Brands worth $39,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $225,025,000 after purchasing an additional 44,428 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE YUM traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $146.36. 597,933 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,311,218. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $151.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.31. The company has a market cap of $40.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

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 paid a $0.71 dividend. 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 1.94%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total transaction of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.