Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 51.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 109,572 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 113,937 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $16,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $602,551,000. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $133,251,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $126,945,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after buying an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 115.8% in the second 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 in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on YUM. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $47,149.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $156.27 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $169.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.69. The firm has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.16, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.05%.

Yum! Brands 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.