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

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Argus upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $155.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $147.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.