Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 116,666 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $15,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $683,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 15,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,130,000 after buying an additional 3,731 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,378 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,941,000 after acquiring an additional 4,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 447,178 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,671,000 after acquiring an additional 34,936 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of YUM opened at $155.72 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $43.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $147.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.69. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.