Capital International Sarl Buys 5,583 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Capital International Sarl lifted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119,231 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 5,583 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $15,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,021,194,000 after buying an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $418,692,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $338,296,000 after buying an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $306,444,000 after buying an additional 244,264 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM traded up $0.76 on Wednesday, hitting $145.81. 718,275 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,017,386. The business's fifty day moving average is $152.00 and its 200 day moving average is $140.27. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $40.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $152.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. This trade represents a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. Company 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.