Blueshift Asset Management LLC Invests $281,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,096 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 947.1% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 19,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,648,000 after purchasing an additional 17,852 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 121,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,360,000 after buying an additional 6,042 shares in the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $416,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 50,273 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,745,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $3,534,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.7 %

YUM opened at $156.75 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $137.82. The company has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. 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 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. Corporate insiders own 0.31% 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.