Amundi Decreases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Amundi reduced its stake in Yum! Brands by 18.9%, selling 141,937 shares and owning 607,958 shares worth approximately $98 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.0%.
• Yum! Brands' stock recently reported EPS of $1.44 for the quarter, missing estimates, while revenue increased by 9.6% year-over-year.

Amundi reduced its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 18.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 607,958 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 141,937 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned about 0.22% of Yum! Brands worth $98,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $121,137,000 after acquiring an additional 764,637 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $43,944,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of YUM stock traded down $1.95 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $146.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,637,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,119,277. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm has a market cap of $40.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.73. The business's fifty day moving average is $146.76 and its 200-day moving average is $148.05.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on YUM. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.23.

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.