Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Raises Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 686,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,296 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $101,677,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $405,000. AlTi Global Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 2,495 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,216 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A raised its position in Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the second quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 14,982 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $167.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.14.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $143.37 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $147.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.29.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,078 shares of company stock worth $4,304,785. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.