Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 8,888 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.25% of Yum! Brands worth $105,649,000 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $602,551,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after purchasing an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Yum! Brands by 115.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after purchasing an additional 703,891 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,306,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $341,841,000 after buying an additional 609,223 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2,288.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 502,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $74,426,000 after buying an additional 481,235 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $42,274.92. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 30,695 shares of company stock worth $4,582,843 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.3%

YUM stock opened at $156.40 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.97 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $43.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.49, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.13.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, November 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.15.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.