Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 140.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 255,495 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $58,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,045,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,079 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,708,000 after purchasing an additional 147,180 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Yum! Brands by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,330 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 69,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,717,000 after purchasing an additional 5,026 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective 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. Finally, Loop Capital lowered 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. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $150.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.75, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $151.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $134.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.11.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

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