Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,053 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,053 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $24,353,416.32. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $156.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.82.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

Yum! Brands 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.