California Public Employees Retirement System Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,107,137 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 4,045 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.40% of Yum! Brands worth $148,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $418,692,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded up $1.60 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $158.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,573,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,957,350. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $148.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.03. The stock has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 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.