Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Grows Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 438,050 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,810 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $58,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 178,612 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,708,000 after buying an additional 147,180 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the third 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 last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.1% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,763,000 after acquiring an additional 73,844 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.47.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $125.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The company’s 50 day moving average is $133.62 and its 200 day moving average is $133.63.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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.