Natixis Has $3.69 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Natixis lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 15.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,879 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,514 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $36,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Private Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 219.4% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total value of $419,839.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,010,292. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,146 shares of company stock valued at $5,699,770. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, December 1st. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $144.02 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.49. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

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.