Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 140.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 73,844 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $16,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,022,648,000 after buying an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $200,668,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,033,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,254,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $163,906,000 after acquiring an additional 649,922 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.5 %

YUM opened at $130.37 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $36.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.43.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

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.