Options players have been piling up on Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM - 70.05) puts, as evidenced by the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR). In the past two weeks, YUM's SOIR has risen to 1.80 from 1.27, showing an increase in demand for the bearish bets. What's more, the ratio currently ranks in the 87th percentile of its annual range, suggesting that short-term speculators are more put-heavy than usual toward the security.

In fact, data collected from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows that puts have been the preferred option in recent months. The stock's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 1.58 ranks higher than 72% of other such annual readings, implying that bearish bets have been picked up over bullish at accelerated levels during the previous 10 weeks.

At first glance, this taste for puts from options players is a bit of a mystery, given YUM's technical backdrop. On a year-over-year basis, the stock has added a solid 37.3%, while tacking on an equally impressive 16% in 2012. Since mid-October, the security has ridden a wave higher atop its 32-day moving average -- tagging an all-time high of $71.79 in the process.

Delving a bit deeper into the information, this recent uptick in put volume is could be the result of shareholders hedging against potential pullbacks, or locking in their paper profits. As it turns out, investor sentiment outside of the options arena is rather bullish, with short interest accounting for a low 1% of the stock's available float. It would take less than two days to cover these shorted shares, at YUM's average daily trading volume.

Although the security pulled back after its trek into all-time high territory on March 27, YUM is up more than 2.6% in today's session to toy with the $70 mark.