Fisher Asset Management LLC Acquires 8,083 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 13.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,125 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 8,083 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $10,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,557,612 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,120,747,000 after acquiring an additional 448,393 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,217,826,000 after buying an additional 218,046 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $602,551,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $569,723,000 after buying an additional 40,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 35.9% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,306,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $341,841,000 after acquiring an additional 609,223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $148.46 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 55.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.38.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total value of $419,839.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,010,292. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,146 shares of company stock worth $5,699,770. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.