Swedbank AB Has $20.68 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 154,104 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $20,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Bank of America lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $130.48 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.53. The company has a market capitalization of $36.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

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.