Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Takes $2.15 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,147,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 17.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 38,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,363,000 after purchasing an additional 9,046 shares in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $479,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,234,000 after purchasing an additional 10,526 shares during the period. Finally, JB Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $208,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.1 %

YUM stock opened at $162.67 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

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.