AIA Group Ltd Acquires 2,327 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 24.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,865 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,327 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% in the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $137.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $137.06 and its 200 day moving average is $130.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Ten 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 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.