Candriam S.C.A. Sells 2,840 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. has reduced its stake in Yum! Brands by 13%, selling 2,840 shares, and now holds 19,073 shares valued at approximately $3 million.
• Institutional investors dominate Yum! Brands' ownership, holding 82.37% of the stock, with several firms increasing their stakes significantly in the recent quarter.
• Yum! Brands recently reported earnings with $1.44 EPS, which fell short of the consensus estimate of $1.46, while revenue showed a year-over-year increase of 9.6%.

Candriam S.C.A. cut its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 13.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,073 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,840 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $121,137,000 after acquiring an additional 764,637 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $97,453,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $475,714,000 after acquiring an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,367,427,000 after acquiring an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $43,944,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,284 shares of company stock worth $4,310,663 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $147.7230 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $41.00 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $146.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.05.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

About Yum! Brands

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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