Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Raises Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 89.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,770 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 7,445 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 73,815 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,893,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $97,000. WBH Advisory Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 14,063 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,887,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $232,000. Finally, MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.73. The stock has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Company 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.