Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by Allianz SE

Allianz SE increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,503 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 4,918 shares during the quarter. Allianz SE’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on YUM. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays set a $185.00 price target on Yum! Brands and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $168.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $157.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $151.02. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total value of $265,383.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,414 shares of company stock valued at $2,332,265. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.