Invesco Ltd. Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 244,264 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.82% of Yum! Brands worth $306,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $3,306,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% in 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 own 82.37% of the company's stock.

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Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of YUM stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $144.06. 384,335 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,338,010. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company's 50-day moving average price is $152.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.11.

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 paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $152.71.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.