Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 435 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, DB Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $43,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $139.06 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $137.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.39. The company has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 47.94%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on YUM. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

About Yum! Brands

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.