Axa S.A. Acquires 29,224 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Axa S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 80.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,474 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 29,224 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total transaction of $753,891.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $146.53 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $151.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.18. The company has a market capitalization of $40.81 billion, a PE ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.70.

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.

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