Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 24,556 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management increased its Yum! Brands stake by 22.4% in the first quarter, buying 24,556 additional shares and lifting its total holding to 134,128 shares worth about $20.85 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains constructive on Yum! Brands, with Morgan Stanley upgrading the stock to overweight and the consensus rating standing at Moderate Buy with an average price target of $176.12.
• Yum! Brands is returning capital to shareholders through both a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share and a newly approved $4 billion share repurchase program that could buy back up to 9.4% of its stock.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 22.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 134,128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 24,556 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $20,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $86,197,000 after purchasing an additional 31,836 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 584,953 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $88,030,000 after purchasing an additional 30,075 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,264,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,786,000. Finally, Ethos Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,372,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $176.12.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,511.84. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $485,695.20. This trade represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $156.36 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $153.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.88. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The firm has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

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

Yum! Brands Company 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.

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