Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 10,526 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 10,526 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Yum! Brands worth $49,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $458,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 587 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock valued at $2,424,167 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $132.36 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $135.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.33. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.76 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $36.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

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.