Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,799 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,503 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% in the 4th quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on YUM. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a 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. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $138.50 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.