Fisher Asset Management LLC Has $9.55 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Fisher Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 7,268 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.0% during the third quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 3,052 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 63.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 2,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finemark National Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Finemark National Bank & Trust now owns 1,627 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 111,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,022,000 after acquiring an additional 18,879 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 24,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,771,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on YUM. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $158.97 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $157.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.38.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The company’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 posted $1.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

About Yum! Brands

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.