Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,820 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $418,692,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $338,296,000 after acquiring an additional 24,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM traded down $0.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $145.72. 929,221 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,001,696. The company has a fifty day moving average of $149.40 and a 200 day moving average of $142.24. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $40.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737. 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.