Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Invests $696,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,190 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $696,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the 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. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.6 %

YUM traded down $2.32 during trading on Monday, reaching $141.00. The company had a trading volume of 218,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,016,174. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.01, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.20.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $152.71.

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.