Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,191 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 5,827 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $21,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.3% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 16,779 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,344,000 after buying an additional 1,568 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,227,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 117,959 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $16,480,000 after purchasing an additional 9,099 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 9,637 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 12.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,153 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE YUM traded down $1.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $157.70. 670,187 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,952,509. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.03. The company has a market cap of $44.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

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.