Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 850 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 850 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,497,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 427,778 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $59,855,000 after purchasing an additional 18,092 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $117,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 16,779 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.8 %

YUM opened at $158.55 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.32. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $44.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.