Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,120 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $553,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,732 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $296,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 130,714 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,537,000 after buying an additional 30,399 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 3,114 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 8,675 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $1.68 during trading on Monday, reaching $149.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,046,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,999,471. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $149.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.05.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The business's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six 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 $156.70.

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.