Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lessened its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,339 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,868 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its stake in 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, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. 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 research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $156.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.82. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.