Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases New Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 105,535 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $14,172,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $17,805,000 after purchasing an additional 17,133 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,306,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $152.24.

Remove Ads

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $2.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $143.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 638,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,005,499. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $151.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

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.