Deutsche Bank AG Purchases Shares of 1,227,576 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,227,576 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $196,240,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $1,477,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $861,000. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $199,000. Principle Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $249,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $39,972.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. This trade represents a 0.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 18,549 shares of company stock worth $2,890,168 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $144.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.09. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The company’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.