Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lessened its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,799 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,503 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Key Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 71.1% during the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 6,160 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,560 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 139,896 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,279,000 after buying an additional 50,499 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 131.5% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 11,019 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE YUM opened at $138.50 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.17. The stock has a market cap of $38.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

About Yum! Brands

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.