Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Buys Shares of 7,869 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 7,869 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,258,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,186,811,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after buying an additional 3,240,190 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,164,814 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,991,573,000 after buying an additional 124,720 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,334,427,000 after acquiring an additional 121,304 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $706,799,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 7,961 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $1,219,227.15. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,831,674. This represents a 39.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 19,043 shares of company stock valued at $2,978,180 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $157.42 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $153.48 and its 200-day moving average is $155.97. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.