Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Cuts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,034 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,445,000 after purchasing an additional 178,612 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after buying an additional 147,180 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $19,041,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at about $12,846,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $139.33 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $134.80 and a 200 day moving average of $134.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be 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 is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

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.