Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Takes $217,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,022,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,939,663 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $823,534,000 after purchasing an additional 121,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.44.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $133.16 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.28 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $37.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.08%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $169,414.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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. Insiders sold a total of 101,673 shares of company stock worth $13,918,095 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.