Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC has increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.2%, holding a total of 426,087 shares valued at approximately $67.05 million.
• Wall Street analysts are generally positive about Yum! Brands, with several companies upgrading their ratings and price targets, including Barclays raising its target from $163.00 to $167.00.
• Yum! Brands recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 1.93% and a payout ratio of 56.57%.

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 426,087 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 21,174 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Yum! Brands worth $67,049,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $1.26 on Friday, hitting $145.41. 1,930,682 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,613,203. The business's fifty day moving average is $145.65 and its 200 day moving average is $146.26. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.