Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 31,259 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 529,856 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,259 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.19% of Yum! Brands worth $78,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 3,172 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,524,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 109,030 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,157,000 after acquiring an additional 5,499 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,349 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 2,251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.29.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of YUM opened at $148.84 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $146.49 and its 200-day moving average is $146.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 55.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 64 shares in the company, valued at $9,559.68. This represents a 95.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total transaction of $261,161.55. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 32,112 shares of company stock valued at $4,760,814 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.