Amundi Boosts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 115.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 703,891 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 0.47% of Yum! Brands worth $197,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 219.4% in the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $162.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $144.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.55.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total transaction of $419,839.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,010,292. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,559.68. The trade was a 95.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,146 shares of company stock worth $5,699,770. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.