Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 686,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,296 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Yum! Brands worth $101,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after buying an additional 483,918 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,098,801 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $330,267,000 after purchasing an additional 53,326 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,063,179 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $305,722,000 after purchasing an additional 238,615 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $307,504,000 after purchasing an additional 27,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $305,286,000 after buying an additional 430,511 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. This trade represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.14.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $143.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $147.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.02%.

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.