Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 1,868 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 59,339 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,868 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its position 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. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $156.75 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $143.99 and its 200-day moving average is $137.82. The company has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G 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 paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

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.