AIA Group Ltd Has $1.55 Million Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 24.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,865 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,327 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Key Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 71.1% in the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 6,160 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,560 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 139,896 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,279,000 after acquiring an additional 50,499 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 131.5% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 11,019 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the business’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 value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.87 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

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.