Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 20,319 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 437,848 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 20,319 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of Yum! Brands worth $58,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake 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 worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,805,000 after buying an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in 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 period. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,306,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its position in Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Argus upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, December 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $152.24.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $144.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,002,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,017,028. The stock has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $152.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $140.02.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 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 dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

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.