Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Increases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,378 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 4,517 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 stock was 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 $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $1.28 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $157.04. 3,510,584 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,959,951. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.69. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $43.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $151.79.

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.