AIA Group Ltd Increases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 32.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,322 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 4,998 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

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Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.79 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $158.13. 1,585,332 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,955,754. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, 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 simple moving average of $149.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.16.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were 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 approximately $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have 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 research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. 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.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $151.79.

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.