Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Boosts Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 77,554 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,005 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $10,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $228,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $199,511,000 after acquiring an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $116,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 9.7 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $143.93 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $132.19 and a 200 day moving average of $133.65. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $144.43. The firm has a market cap of $40.17 billion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced 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). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.61.

Yum! Brands 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.