Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 140.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 255,495 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.16% of Yum! Brands worth $58,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,867,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 227.5% in the fourth quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,232 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.9 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $150.10 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $151.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a PE ratio of 28.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.