Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 257,455 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 12,200 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.09% of Yum! Brands worth $34,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after purchasing an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after acquiring an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 696,714 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $93,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,083 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $151.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $134.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.93. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $151.29.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.