423,335 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Acquired by Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired 423,335 shares of Yum! Brands, valued at approximately $66.6 million, representing about 0.15% of the company's stock.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Yum! Brands, contributing to a total ownership of 82.37% of the company's stock.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.9%, to be paid on September 12th.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 423,335 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $66,616,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI owned about 0.15% of Yum! Brands as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 103.6% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,797 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 110,000 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 52,404 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $7,030,000 after buying an additional 2,807 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 31,592 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,238,000 after purchasing an additional 6,910 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 61,820 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $8,294,000 after buying an additional 3,715 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 2.2%

YUM stock opened at $147.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $41.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.05.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

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.

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