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• Masco bulls looking for more gains
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• YUM 78% Rate It

As Yum Brands tries to climb, investors are proceeding with caution.

optionMONSTER's Depth Charge monitoring program detected the purchase of more than 6,000 September 65 puts for $0.60 to $0.66. Volume was more than twice the open interest in the strike at the beginning of the day, so this is new buying.

YUM is up 0.81 percent to $66.28 in early afternoon trading. The global fast-food company, known for its large operations on the Chinese mainland, more than tripled between late 2008 and early 2012. In the last six months, however, it's lagged as Europe slows and margins weaken.

The puts traded as the stock pushed higher, so they were probably bought by an investor who's also been picking up shares. He or she now has protection in place in case of a drop in the next two weeks.(See our Education section for more on how to hedge existing positions.)

The company's next quarterly earnings report is scheduled for Oct. 9, after those September puts expire. YUM's brands include KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Overall option volume in the name is more than quadruple the daily average so far today, with puts outnumbering calls by more than 3 to 1.

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