Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Raises Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,167 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after acquiring an additional 51,690 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 930,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $123,243,000 after acquiring an additional 58,437 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,348,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8 %

YUM opened at $135.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $134.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.70 and a 12-month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. Bank of America cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. 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, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.94.

About Yum! Brands

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.