Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Buys 7,445 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 89.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,770 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,445 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $147.27 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $133.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.73. The company has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.