Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Acquires 4,517 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,378 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,517 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $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 valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $155.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.61.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost 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 of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.