Amundi Has $179.76 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Amundi raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 63.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,124,462 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 435,665 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 0.41% of Yum! Brands worth $179,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Steph & Co. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $39,972.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 63,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,766,528.65. This represents a 0.41% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,780 shares of company stock valued at $2,940,693. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Yum! Brands to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Argus lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $149.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $153.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.33. The stock has a market cap of $40.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 37.74%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.