Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 447,178 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 34,936 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.16% of Yum! Brands worth $59,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the third 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 period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,306,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden boosted 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 valued at $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

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Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value 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 trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock traded up $1.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $157.04. The company had a trading volume of 3,510,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,959,951. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $147.14 and a 200 day moving average of $138.69. The company has a market capitalization of $43.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.41%.

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.