Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Sells 10,057 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 313,548 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 10,057 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.11% of Yum! Brands worth $47,659,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.0% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,857,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,756 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 2,606 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.70.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $154.41 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $151.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $148.47. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $124.58 and a one year high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $42.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 64 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 30,695 shares of company stock valued at $4,582,843 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.