Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Markel Group Inc.

Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 31.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 205,502 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 49,000 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of Yum! Brands worth $27,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,180 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,380 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 40,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,389,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,330 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 749,895 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $95,792,000 after purchasing an additional 144,406 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded down $2.65 on Wednesday, hitting $154.05. The stock had a trading volume of 827,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,911,885. The company's 50 day moving average price is $139.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

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 dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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 company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen equities research 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 company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $150.42.

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.