Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 182.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,315 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,771 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $14,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 79.8% in the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $145.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.44.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at $20,955,351.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,918,095. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $133.04 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $118.28 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $37.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $134.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

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.