Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $419,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,017,818.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $139.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $133.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.36. The stock has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

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.