Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 8,081 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors trimmed its Yum! stake by 2.0%, selling 8,081 shares to hold 403,149 shares (~$61.3M), while other major institutions (Vanguard, State Street, Geode) increased positions and Norges Bank opened a new ~$602.6M position; institutional ownership stands at 82.37%.
• Insider selling has been notable: insiders sold 14,138 shares worth $2.29M in the last 90 days, including CEO Aaron Powell's sale of 12,000 shares, leaving insider ownership at 0.33%.
• Analysts are moderately bullish with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.50; Yum! slightly missed quarterly EPS ($1.73 vs. $1.76) but beat revenue and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 (annualized $3.00, 1.9% yield).

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 403,149 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 8,081 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Yum! Brands worth $61,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,356,869,000 after purchasing an additional 684,946 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,945,791,000 after purchasing an additional 297,641 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,217,826,000 after purchasing an additional 218,046 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $569,723,000 after purchasing an additional 40,757 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $47,149.68. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $159.83 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The company has a market capitalization of $44.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $158.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.59.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.05%.

Yum! Brands 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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