Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,526 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $49,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock worth $2,424,167. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $132.36 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $36.94 billion, a PE ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.33. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.76 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

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.