Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Has $3.33 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 35.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,839 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 13,549 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,348,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $130.48 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $132.60 and a 200-day moving average of $133.58. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $143.20.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total value of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This trade represents a 4.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.