Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Purchases 9,101 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 206,210 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,101 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.07% of Yum! Brands worth $27,665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on YUM. UBS Group raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $158.55 on Thursday. 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 simple moving average of $145.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

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 $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. 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. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 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.