National Bank of Canada FI Increases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 53.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 202,207 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 70,428 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.07% of Yum! Brands worth $27,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,153 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 86.6% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,032 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 1,821 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 55,799 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $7,777,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 51.5% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 9,414 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on YUM. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $13.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $147.52. 4,704,337 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,969,178. The company's 50 day moving average is $150.15 and its 200 day moving average is $139.46. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.