Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after acquiring an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 930,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $123,243,000 after acquiring an additional 58,437 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,348,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 657,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $91,922,000 after purchasing an additional 63,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 635,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $88,514,000 after buying an additional 35,812 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $139.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $123.70 and a one year high of $143.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $134.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.54.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.94.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total value of $959,600.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.