Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Grows Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,959 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,099 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $16,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,645,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 140.1% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,763,000 after buying an additional 73,844 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 18.2% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,730,000 after acquiring an additional 7,814 shares during the period. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $984,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $138.94 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.53. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.70 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its 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 negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.09%.

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.