Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $1.55 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after buying an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,497,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 427,778 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $59,855,000 after purchasing an additional 18,092 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 16,779 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $158.55 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $44.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.32.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Yum! Brands Profile

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.