Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Lowers Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 99,680 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 26,100 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $13,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 649.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of YUM opened at $148.51 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $151.29. The stock has a market cap of $41.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $134.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.02.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.