3,667 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Purchased by Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,667 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 4,959 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 1,832 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 206,210 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $27,665,000 after purchasing an additional 9,101 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,568 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,552,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 85.8% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 5,201 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 2,401 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $1.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $158.96. 1,573,823 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,957,354. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $148.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year 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. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % 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 worth $7,952,685. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands 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.