Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by Jump Financial LLC

Jump Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 68.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,508 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 2,239 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th 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. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $225,025,000 after purchasing an additional 44,428 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.62.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $145.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $152.00 and a 200-day moving average of $140.27.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.

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