Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Lowers Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. cut its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 741,161 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 9,310 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.26% of Yum! Brands worth $96,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 22,079 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,828,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.5% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,607 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Oppenheimer upgraded Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $138.04 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.97. The company has a market cap of $38.86 billion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 47.94%.

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.