Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Raises Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 5,026 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,022,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,607,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Yum! Brands by 23.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $200,668,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,033,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $301,498,000 after purchasing an additional 582,267 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.44.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $133.04 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.28 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $37.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.04.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,326.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,326.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,918,095 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.