Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 800 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth 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 period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in Yum! Brands by 649.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $147.80 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $133.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $149.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed 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. Loop Capital reduced their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.37.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction 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 $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.