Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 107,010 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,791 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $15,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $55,564,000 after purchasing an additional 6,673 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $1,172,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 498,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,459,000 after acquiring an additional 51,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 741.1% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 5,425 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.14.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 2.0%

YUM opened at $143.37 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $147.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.30. The company has a market cap of $39.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,078 shares of company stock worth $4,304,785 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.