Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Mediolanum International Funds Ltd

Key Points

• Mediolanum International Funds Ltd reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. by 83.4%, now holding 3,647 shares worth approximately $568,000.
• Institutional investors own 82.37% of Yum! Brands, with recent activity including increased positions by several firms such as Integrated Wealth Concepts and Valeo Financial Advisors.
• Yum! Brands recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.96% and a payout ratio of 56.57%.

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 83.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,647 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 18,336 shares during the quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $568,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 7,025 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the first quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 58,462 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $295,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 14,593 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,296,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 39.5% during the 1st quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 9,276 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,460,000 after buying an additional 2,627 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.6%

YUM stock traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $145.07. The company had a trading volume of 790,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,120,152. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $145.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

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.