Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $16.43 Million Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 108,514 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,363 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $16,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,609,000 after purchasing an additional 11,532 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 19.7% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $52,804,000 after purchasing an additional 57,112 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,423,000 after buying an additional 10,632 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,786,000. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 89.8% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 20,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,040,000 after buying an additional 9,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $40,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at $531,544. The trade was a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 2,890 shares of company stock valued at $451,123 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:YUM opened at $152.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $157.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.35.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

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.