E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Acquires New Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,663,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $28,000. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $40,176.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on YUM. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE YUM opened at $159.32 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $169.39. The stock has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $159.51 and its 200 day moving average is $152.62.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.