State of Michigan Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,714 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $10,158,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 83,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 30.8% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 38,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,363,000 after buying an additional 9,046 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 657,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $91,922,000 after buying an additional 63,406 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 121,346 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,953,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $159.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56, a P/E/G 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 $161.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.04.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. 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 1.78%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.65.

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.