J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Buys Shares of 16,027 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired 16,027 shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. in the second quarter, valued at approximately $2,375,000.
• Yum! Brands' stock has a market cap of $41.80 billion with an average price target of $161.32, and analysts maintain a mixed outlook with eleven "Buy" ratings and thirteen "Hold" ratings.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, giving it an annualized yield of 1.9% with a payout ratio of 56.02%.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,027 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $2,375,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,098,801 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $330,267,000 after purchasing an additional 53,326 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $307,504,000 after purchasing an additional 27,355 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,700,298 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $267,559,000 after purchasing an additional 23,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.32.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $150.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.72. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $147.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.28. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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