Norges Bank Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,120,839 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $418,692,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.12% of Yum! Brands as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 140.3% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,712,000 after acquiring an additional 255,495 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $30,098,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 749,895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $95,792,000 after acquiring an additional 144,406 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $155.72 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.61.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. 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 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. 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.