Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $3.31 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 83.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,032 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 109,682 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the first quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,614 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $256,177.35. The trade was a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $143.88 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $145.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $143.35.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 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, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.24.

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.