Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 218,046 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 218,046 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.96% of Yum! Brands worth $1,217,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $1,172,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 498,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,459,000 after acquiring an additional 51,419 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $304,000. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 458.8% in the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 30,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,844,000 after purchasing an additional 25,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 49,887 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,850,000 after buying an additional 4,047 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total transaction of $261,161.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 32,864 shares of company stock worth $4,884,532 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $149.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $41.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.47, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $146.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.30. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.29.

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.