Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Grows Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $14,664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 2,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $153.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.47. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $155.18.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. 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 1.85%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.