Machina Capital S.A.S. Acquires Shares of 6,649 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,649 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $116,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, 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 have sold a total of 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $150.42.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of YUM stock traded down $2.29 on Wednesday, hitting $154.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,631,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,270,665. The firm has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $139.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.67.

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 1.84%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

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.