Forsta AP Fonden Acquires 5,600 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Forsta AP Fonden boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $14,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stonegate Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $240,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,413 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Nilsine Partners LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 7,067 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $253,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 45.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,179 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $724,000 after buying an additional 1,618 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $129.31 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.58. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.89.

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.