ING Groep NV Has $5.42 Million Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

ING Groep NV raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 73.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,204 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after buying an additional 684,946 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after buying an additional 3,240,190 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $1,334,427,000 after buying an additional 121,304 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $706,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,348,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $509,025,000 after buying an additional 176,221 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.28 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $155.14 and its 200 day moving average is $155.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The firm has a market cap of $40.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,522,735.48. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.17.

About Yum! Brands

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.