Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Raises Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,319 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $602,551,000. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $133,251,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $126,945,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,382,000 after acquiring an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 703,891 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on YUM. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of YUM opened at $154.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.73. The stock has a market cap of $42.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted 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 company had revenue of $2.52 billion for 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 earned $1.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

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.