Westpac Banking Corp Purchases 3,710 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Westpac Banking Corp grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,835 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 3,710 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Argus raised 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. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $1,367,913.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 8.6 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $13.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $147.52. The company had a trading volume of 4,704,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,178. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The company's 50 day moving average price is $150.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.46. The stock has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders 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 represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.