Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Stock Position Cut by Allianz Asset Management GmbH

Allianz Asset Management GmbH trimmed its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 72.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,229 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 127,235 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $105,649,000 after purchasing an additional 8,888 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Yum! Brands by 115.8% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after purchasing an additional 703,891 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,382,000 after buying an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $52,804,000 after buying an additional 57,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 126.1% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 29,192 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,326,000 after buying an additional 16,282 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $158.80 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.22. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $163.60. The firm has a market cap of $44.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The company had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 51.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total transaction of $3,627,901.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 36,608 shares of company stock valued at $5,607,456 in the last quarter. 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.