Swedbank AB Acquires 673 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 154,104 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $20,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,445,000 after buying an additional 178,612 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after acquiring an additional 147,180 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 80.9% during the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 156,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,865,000 after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 182.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 100,315 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,015,000 after purchasing an additional 64,771 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.2 %

YUM stock opened at $130.48 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $132.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.53. The firm has a market cap of $36.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly 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). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.