Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,885 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 4,290 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on Yum! Brands and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.22.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of YUM opened at $152.91 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The company has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.95.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $40,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,665 shares of company stock valued at $437,283. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.