Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Has $48.93 Million Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 321,909 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,113 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned approximately 0.12% of Yum! Brands worth $48,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $602,551,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after acquiring an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 115.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $197,013,000 after acquiring an additional 703,891 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,306,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $341,841,000 after acquiring an additional 609,223 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2,288.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 502,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,426,000 after purchasing an additional 481,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $152.26 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $148.76 and a 200-day moving average of $147.35. The company has a market capitalization of $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 55.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,559.68. This trade represents a 95.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 30,970 shares of company stock worth $4,624,805 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.